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AND 



. SACRAIEEIVTALr EXHORTATIONS. 



BY THE LATE 
ANDREW THOMSON, D. D. 

MINISTER OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH. 



First American Edition. 



BOSTON : 

PUBLISHED BY CROCKER AND BREWSTER, 

47, Washington Street. 
NEW YORK:— J. LEAVITT, 
182, Broadway. 




1832. 



1232. 



J 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

MEMOIR OF DR. THOMSON, ------- xiii 

SERMON I. 

SALVATION BY GRACE. 

For by grace are ye saved through faith. — Ephe- 
sians ii. 6, ----------- 61 

SERMON IT. 

HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. 

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; 
yet per adventure for a good man some would 
even dare to die. But God commendeth his 
love toward us, in that, while we were yet sin- 
ners, Christ died for us. — Romans v. 7, 8, - 84 

EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION, - - - 99 



iv 



CONTENTS. 



SERMON III. 

THE JOYFUL SOUND. 

Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. — 
Psalm lxxxix. 15, ---------110 

SERMON IV. 

SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new 
creature ; old things are passed away ; behold, 
all things are become new. — 2 Corinthians v. 17, 134 

SERMON V. 

THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. 

For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our 
conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, 
not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, 
we have had our conversation in-the world, and 
more abundantly to , you-ward.< — 2 Corinthians 
i. 12, -------- 148 

SERMON VI. 



And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, 
choose ye this day whom ye will serve.— 
Joshua xxiv. 15, - -- - 160 

SERMON VII. 

CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 

J was a stranger, and ye took me in. — Matthew 
xxv. 35, -180 



CONTENTS. 



SERMON VIII. 



THE IMPERFECTIONS OP CHRISTIANS EXAGGERATED. 



Let as many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the 
name of God and his doctrine be not blas- 
phemed. — 1 Timothy vi. 1, 200 

SERMON IX. 

THE IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS NO ARGUMENT 
AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 



Let as many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the 
name of God and his doctrine be not blas- 
phemed. — 1 Timothy vi. 1, - - - - - - 214 



SERMON X. 



THE IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS NO ARGUMENT 
AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 

Let as many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the 
name of God and his doctrine be not blas- 
phemed. — 1 Timothy vi. 1 , ----- -225 



SERMON XI. 

THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS IN REFERENCE TO THE 
OBJECTION FOUNDED ON THEIR IMPERFECTIONS. 

Let as many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the 
name of God and his doctrine be not blas- 
phemed. — 1 Timothy vi. 1, 239 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



SERMON XII. 

THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS IN REFERENCE TO THE 
OBJECTION FOUNDED ON THEIR IMPERFECTIONS. 

Let as many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the 
name of God and his doctrine be not blas- 
phemed. — 1 Timothy vi. 1, ----- - 252 

SERMON XIII. 

ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 

Ask, and it shall be given you. — Matthew vii. 7, 267 

EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION,- - - 281 

SERMON XIV. 

ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 

Ask, and it shall be given you. — Matthew vii. 7, 289 
SERMON XV. 

PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 



Is any among you afflicted ? Let him pray. — 
James v. 13, 303 



•CONTENTS. Vii 



SERMON XVI. 



Save me, O Lord, and I shall be saved. — Jere- 
miah xvii. 14, - -- -- -- -- - 324 

EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION, - - - 342 

SERMON XVII. 

SPIRITUAL DISEASE AND ITS REMEDY. 

Is there no balm in Gilead ? Is there no physi- 
cian there ? Why then is not the health of the 
daughter of my people recovered. — Jeremiah 
viii. 22, - 355 

SERMON XVIII. 

CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 

I was dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou 
didst it. — Psalm xxxix. 9, ------ 369 

SERMON XIX. 

THE ACCEPTED TIME. 

Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, now is 
the day of salvation. — 2 Corinthians vi. 2, - - 389 

SERMON XX. 

VIEWS OF DEATH. 

Thou taJcest away their breath, they die, and re- 
turn to their dust. — Psalm civ. 29, - - - - 398 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



SERMON XXI. 

CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. 

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, 
immoveable, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord, forasmuch as ye -know that your labor is 
not in vain in the Lord." — 1 Corinthians xv. 58, 417 

SERMON XXII. 

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER'S FAREWELL. 

Continue thou in the things which thou hast 
learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of 
whom thou hast learned them. — 2 Timothy iii.l 3, 431 



MEMOIR 



OF 

ANDREW THOMSON, D. D. 



The time has not perhaps arrived when justice can 
be done to an extended Memoir of the late Dr. 
Thomson, a task which it is to be hoped some of his 
early friends will be induced to undertake. In the 
mean time, the following brief notice may not be 
unacceptable, as an introduction to a volume of his 
posthumous discourses. 

Dr. Andrew Thomson was born at Sanquhar, in 
Dumfries-shire, on the 11th of July, 1779. His 
father was the late Dr. John Thomson, one of the 
ministers of Edinburgh ; at the time of his son's birth, 
minister of Sanquhar, and, subsequently, of Markinch 
in Fife. The subject of this Memoir, without affording 
any striking proof of premature scholarship, from which 
an augury of his future fame might have been drawn, 
was remarkable from his earliest years for intelli- 
2 



xiv 



MEMOIR OF 



gence and vivacity, and especially for that free, manly, 
openhearted character, which, in after life, gave him so 
strong a hold on the affections of all who intimately 
knew him. It is difficult to say at what precise period 
his thoughts first turned seriously to the ministry : but 
he had not been many years at college before he 
exhibited decided symptoms of the power of that vital 
religion, which forms the first and best qualification for 
the sacred office. 

Early in 1802 he was licensed to preach the gospel, 
by the presbytery of Kelso; and on the 11th of 
March of the same year, he was ordained minister of 
the parish of Sprouston, within the bounds of the pres- 
bytery from which he had received licence. Shortly 
after his settlement at Sprouston, he married Miss 
Carmichael, by whom he had ten children, seven of 
whom are still alive. The result of this union was all 
the happiness which the marriage relation can afford ; 
interrupted only to the afflicted survivor, by the melan- 
choly event which has deprived her and her family of 
the society of one, who, if possible, was still more 
attractive and delightful in the family circle than he was 
commanding and distinguished in the public walks of 
professional and active life. 

During his ministry at Sprouston, Dr. Thomson 
displayed the same vigor, earnestness, and fidelity, by 
which his labors, in more extensive spheres, were sub- 
sequently characterized. His interest in the external 
affairs of the church, was manifested by the share he 
began to take in the business of the ecclesiastical courts 
of which he was a member; while of his anxiety to 
promote the higher interests of religion, a satisfactory 



DR. THOMSON. 



XV 



evidence exists in the catechism on the Lord's Supper, 
which he published for the benefit of the young among 
his parishioners ; a work which has passed through 
many editions ; and which we have reason to know, 
has proved eminently useful to many besides those for 
whose use it was originally designed. 

In the year 1808, Dr. Thomson was removed to the 
East Church, Perth. Here, in conjunction with his 
brother, and others of his friends, ministers of Perth 
and its neighborhood, he lived happily, and labored 
successfully, till the spring of 18] 0, when he received 
a presentation from the magistrates and council of 
Edinburgh, to the New Greyfriars church in that city. 
In this situation, better adapted to his talents, and to 
the active character of his mind than either of the pre- 
ceding, he entered on a course of ministerial service, 
which proved in no ordinary degree acceptable and 
useful. Many who have since distinguished themselves 
for Christian worth and attainments, owed their first 
religious impressions to his discourses in the New 
Greyfriars. To the young, especially, and the students 
attending the university, his ministry was at this period 
peculiarly attractive. Previously to his coming to 
Edinburgh, it had been too much the policy of the 
town-council of that city to translate, from the country 
to churches in their gift, ministers of considerable age 
and standing, whose habits and whose style of preaching 
were formed ; and who, from these circumstances, 
were less qualified than younger men to adapt their 
ministrations to the intelligence and taste of their new 
audience ; who, coming from the country, where they 
had perhaps acquired a character for eloquence of a 



xvi 



MEMOIR OF 



certain popular, though not very accurate or refined 
description, and finding some change necessary, felt 
themselves at a loss how to proceed ; and being neither 
willing to adhere to their former standard, nor able to 
conform to a better, sank down into inertness and 
inefficiency ; satisfied with the substitution of tame cor- 
rectness for the vigorous, though homely strain of their 
former pulpit addresses. At no period, perhaps, could 
this have been the case with the energetic and versatile 
mind of the subject of this Memoir. Happily, however, 
the'time of life at which he entered on his labors in 
Edinburgh, conspired, with the peculiar turn of his 
mind, to render, in his instance, the adaptation of his 
pulpit ministrations natural and easy. In the opening 
vigor of his faculties, and with the habits of study 
which necessity imposes even 011 country clergymen at 
an early period of their ministry, Dr. Thomson com- 
menced that arduous, but effective course of public 
service in the metropolis of Scotland, which it was hi s 
privilege to prosecute, with unabated vigor, to the close 
of his life. Those who recollect the period to which 
we now refer, as the commencement of that course, 
will remember the powerful impression produced on 
the mind of the public at large, by the commanding 
appeals of his occasional sermons for charitable objects ; 
while those who enjoyed the benefit of his ordinary 
Sabbath ministrations, will recal with delight, and many 
of them with feelings deeper and more grateful than those 
of mere delight, the effect created by his lucid expo- 
sitions of sacred Scripture, and by his earnest, eloquent, 
and affectionate addresses on the topics of Christian 
doctrine and Christian duty. 



DR. THOMSON. 



xvii 



A few months after his admission into Edinburgh, 
Dr. Thomson, with the assistance of several of his 
clerical brethren, in the church and in the secession, 
commenced the publication of the Christian Instructor ; 
a work that, in spite of the disfavor with which, in cer- 
tain quarters, it has been regarded, and a want of the 
support which it justly merited from the friends both of 
religion and of the establishment, has been the means 
of doing incalculable service in many ways, to the cause 
of Christianity. As a monument of Dr. Thomson's 
indefatigable activity, the work has perhaps no parallel. 
For many years, not only did the task of editorship fall 
exclusively upon Dr. Thomson, but to him it was 
indebted for a large proportion of the best articles, 
whether in the miscellaneous or critical department, 
which, in the face of circumstances that tended to 
obstruct its circulation, and injure its popularity, con- 
tinued to extort for it, from the religious public, a great 
share of favorable regard. 

The charge of the Christian Instructor was not, how- 
ever, his sole literary undertaking. To the Edinburgh 
Encyclopaedia, conducted by Dr. Brewster, he con- 
tributed many articles, some of them of considerable 
interest, and all of them indicative of the patience of his 
research, the soundness of his judgment, and the unaf- 
fected vigor of his style. 

In the year 1814, St. George's church, which had 
been for some years building, was ready for public 
worship, and was opened on Sunday, the 5th of June, 
of that year, by the late Rev. Sir Henry MoncrieiF 
Wellwood, Bart., who preached from Ecclesiastes v. 1. 
As the individual best qualified to fill a very large 
*2 



xviii 



MEMOIR OF 



structure, situate, at that time, at the extremity of the 
city, Dr. Thomson was fixed upon as its minister, and to 
this charge he was admitted on Thursday, the 16th of 
June, 1814. Here the more public and brilliant part 
of his course commenced. He had difficulties to 
encounter, both in collecting and in retaining a congre- 
gation, which would have had a depressing effect on the 
mind of most men. To Dr. Thomson, however, who 
of all men was formed to contend with, and to master 
difficulties, these only gave interest to his new situation. 
They had no other effect on his elastic and enterprising 
spirit than to incite him to redoubled exertions, and to 
a more energetic display of ministerial fidelity. Being 
possessed of great natural fluency in point both of 
thought and of expression, he had not, up to the period 
of his appointment to St. George's been in the regular 
habit of writing out his discourses. Aware, however, 
of the importance of correctness and variety, in com- 
positions addressed to an audience, composed chiefly 
of the higher classes of society in such a city as Edin- 
burgh, he formed the resolution of adopting a new 
practice, and of preaching nothing which he had not 
carefully studied and prepared. In this way, while he 
followed a plan recommended by considerations both of 
duty and of expediency, he voluntarily incurred a new 
amount of labor. For many years, he weekly com- 
posed and wrote two discourses for the pulpit ; and 
this at a time, when, in addition to other avocations, he 
was engaged in forming a ministerial acquaintance with 
a congregation unusually large, and composed of per- 
sons to whom the slight and hasty notices of ordinary 
parochial visitation would not have been appropriate. 



DR. THOMSON. 



xix 



But, if thus he added to his labors, he had also the 
satisfaction of perceiving that he had secured his use- 
fulness. Over a description of persons, by many of 
whom, at the commencement of his ministry in St. 
George's, the peculiar doctrines and obligations of the 
gospel were little known or relished, Dr. Thomson 
speedily acquired an influence scarcely ever possessed 
by any preacher. Nor is it necessary to say, that he 
owed this enviable ascendancy to no compromise of 
principle — to no unworthy accommodation of divine 
truth to the prejudices of his audience. In addressing 
himself to a congregation peculiarly exclusive and sen- 
sitive, he stood upon the high ground of his office as an 
ambassador for Christ; and with the apostle of the 
Gentiles, to whose bold, unfearing character, his own, 
in many points, bore a striking resemblance, he deter- 
mined to know nothing, as the subject of his ministry, 
but Jesus Christ and him crucified. How fully, effect- 
ively, and perseveringly, he adhered to his system, the 
recollection of his hearers, as well as the strain of his 
published discourses amply testify. The peculiar 
qualifications which he brought to his task are, at the 
same time, not to be overlooked. To a manner of 
great animation and fire, yet restrained and dignified, 
he added a style of uncommon simplicity and spirit, 
which nature enabled him to set off to advantage by the 
tones of a voice remarkable for compass and harmony. 
He delighted in argument ; but his arguments were of 
that direct, palpable, practical character, which stim- 
ulate attention, and admit of being appreciated and fol- 
lowed by the most ordinary understanding; while the 
truths he labored to establish, were all of acknowledged 



XX 



MEMOIR OF 



importance, bore so intimate a relation to the system 
which, as a Christian minister, it was his province to 
illustrate and enforce, and came so closely and power- 
fully home to every man's heart and conscience, that 
nothing could appear more natural than the pains he 
took to explain and defend them. As in the clear 
fountain of his thoughts, there were no turbid elements 
— no confusion of ideas — no obscure images — no sur- 
face on which a wayward fancy could paint the fluctu- 
ating figures of its own changeful extravagance — so in 
his discourses, all was simple, perspicuous, unaffected, 
and intelligible. Imagination was not perhaps his dis- 
tinctive faculty; yet, even of the glow and peculiar 
effect of a well-disciplined imagination, his composi- 
tions were not destitute. When he chose, he could be 
tender, descriptive, and impassioned ; and when he 
indulged neither in declamation addressed to the fancy, 
nor in appeals which went to the heart, he uniformly 
commanded attention by the clearness of his statements, 
the force of his reasonings, and the pointed and prac- 
tical strain of his exhortations. It has been well 
remarked of him, that few men, and especially few 
public instructors, ever displayed a greater practical 
acquaintance with human nature, or could turn their 
knowledge to better account. His hearers accordingly, 
however secular their habits, could not but feel that 
they were addressed by one intimately conversant with 
life and manners : they could not evade the force of 
his arguments and lessons, by ascribing them to the 
ignorance or austerity of their instructor : they could 
not but perceive in his delineations of character, a 
faithful mirror, in which their own modes of thinking 



DR. THOMSON. 



XXI 



and acting were exhibited to the life ; nor could they 
be insensible to the value of warnings and of counsels, 
in which the acuteness of the man of liberal ideas and 
of general observation, was blended with the wisdom 
of the moralist, and the sanctity of the Christian and 
the Divine. 

To causes such as these, accordingly, we are to 
ascribe the high place which Dr. Thomson acquired 
and held in the estimation of the religious public of 
Edinburgh. Nor, in any review of the religious his- 
tory of the period, will the deserved fame of Dr. 
Thomson be overlooked, as one of the causes of the 
revived taste for the faithful preaching of the gospel 
which has happily characterized Edinburgh for the last 
fifteen or twenty years. 

But Dr. Thomson was not satisfied with merely 
preaching the gospel. For many years after his ap- 
pointment to St. George's, he employed the interval 
between the forenoon and afternoon services, in cate- 
chising the young belonging to the congregation : and 
this exercise he performed in a manner that had the 
effect, in an uncommon degree, of uniting to him the 
hearts both of parents and children. 

Among the excellent practices recommended by the 
standards of the Church of Scotland, and by the 
example of the best of her ministers in her purest 
times, is that of week-day meetings in the church, for 
the purpose of instruction in the principles of religion, 
as these are taught in the Shorter Catechism. To 
attendance on such meetings in a city like Edinburgh 
some practical objections have been raised ; and with 
a view to obviate these, Dr. Thomson instituted a lec- 



xxii 



MEMOIR OF 



ture, in which, without placing any one in the trying 
situation of a catechumen, he made use of a question 
in the catechism by way of text ; and explaining and 
illustrating it in a manner adapted to all capacities, he 
went over the ground usually traversed in these exer- 
cises. For several years he continued these week-day 
expositions, during a limited period of the summer 
months, and was only induced to relinquish them, in 
consequence of repeated and alarming attacks of indis- 
position, which taught him the necessity of imposing a 
restraint upon the otherwise unwearied zeal of his active 
and benevolent mind. 

In the youth of his congregation, Dr. Thomson, as 
we have observed, took a w 7 arm and affectionate 
interest. In his parish, he found there were many of 
this class whom his Sabbath instructions could not 
reach — young persons who either did not attend his 
church, or whose circumstances and those of their 
parents rendered a greater degree of tuition necessary, 
than it was possible to afford them on the Lord's day. 
To meet their case, accordingly, Dr. Thomson pro- 
jected a week-day school. His influence enabled him 
speedily to raise the funds requisite for the erection of 
a suitable school-house ; and the facility with which he 
could adapt himself to the operations of benevolence, 
enabled him to carry into effect the other means neces- 
sary to the completion of his plan. As his experience 
in the task of instructing the young of his congregation 
had shown him how much could be done with young 
people, by addressing their understanding and their 
affections, he undertook at once to compile suitable 
books for the different classes into which the school was 



DR. THOMSON. 



xxiii 



divided, and for a time to act as teacher and superin- 
tendent in the school. Far from despising what to 
other minds would have appeared to be drudgery, 
regarding it indeed with fondness, and entering into it 
with his whole heart, he spent entire days in teaching 
the children of the lower classes of his parish the ele- 
mentary principles of education and religion, and passed 
from the school-house to his study, only to prosecute 
the other department of his labor of love ; and, amid 
the humble toils of an author of first books for children, 
to lose sight of those more inviting objects of ambition, 
after which a mind like his might have been expected 
exclusively to rfspire. 

From nature he had received an exquisite ear and 
taste for music ; and, upon the principle of consecrating 
all the gifts of nature to the service of his Master, he 
undertook a reformation of that part of the devotional 
service of the sanctuary which consists of praise. To 
him, in a great measure, are to be traced the recent 
improvements that have been effected in the psalmody 
of several churches in this city. His own church set 
the example; and for their use, and the better to 
accomplish his object, he drew up a collection of the 
most approved psalm tunes, all of which he carefully 
revised ; and to which he added several original com- 
positions, and a few of great beauty of his own. It 
may not be uninteresting to record, that but a few 
weeks before his death, he issued a circular, addressed 
to the members of his congregation, renewing his 
affectionate admonitions on the subject of church music, 
which he justly regarded as an expression of piety, and 
a help to devotion. 



xxiv 



MEMOIR OF 



Nor were his private labors less abundant. Great 
as he was in the public sphere of his exertions, it may 
be questioned whether he did not appear even to more 
advantage in the less noticed walks of pastoral visitation 
among the families of his flock. His breast, naturally 
full of kindness, expatiated, as in a congenial sphere, 
while he sat by the sick-bed of those who looked to 
him for consolation, or directed the hopes of the 
bereaved and the dying to the land of promise and of 
rest. They who knew him only as he appeared in the 
field of controversy, or on the high places of debate, or 
even in "the great congregation," where he poured 
forth " words that breathed and thoughts that burned," 
and held attention chained, till conviction came and 
owned his power, can scarcely imagine the air of ten- 
derness and unaffected brotherhood and sympathy, that 
pervaded his look and manner, in the more private 
offices of pastoral intercourse with the afflicted. It had 
pleased Providence often to try him during the course 
of his ministry : his mind, naturally full of affection and 
sensibility, had undergone a variety of discipline. From 
what he himself had felt, therefore, as well as from 
what his friendly heart could imagine, he entered with 
lively interest into all the causes of inquietude or suf- 
fering, under which any of his flock might be laboring. 
To none could the sorrowful more freely unburden 
their griefs ; from none could the perplexed and fear- 
ful more confidently ask advice; and on none could 
the young and the inexperienced more certainly calcu- 
late for sympathy in their anxieties, and assistance in 
regard to the objects they had in view. And while 



DR. THOMPSON. 



XXV 



thus to those who knew him, (and who, if had they 
chosen, might not have known him ?) he was a brother 
and a friend, all that he did was conceived in a spirit, 
and marked by a manner of most perfect unaffected- 
ness. In his kindness there was nothing like effect; 
nothing like exaggeration ; nothing that bore the 
remotest resemblance to acting. Nature reigned in all 
his words and deeds ; and his whole conduct left on the 
mind the impression only, of genuine, unpretending 
friendship. There was a manliness, too, in his kind- 
ness which was in strict keeping with the other parts 
of his character, and which helped to heighten the 
impression of reality produced by the general tone of 
his intercourse. It was the same man who in other 
circumstances could lighten, and agitate, and hold im- 
perial sway over the passions of the most crowded 
meeting, who sat beside you as a friend, and addressed 
you in the words and accents of undissembled interest 
and regard. 

But it was not merely as a parish minister, perform- 
ing the full round of ordinary pastoral duty, that Dr. 
Thomson was remarkable. As a minister of the 
Church of Scotland, he was a member of her judicato- 
ries, and entrusted with the functions of an adminis- 
trator of her laws. Justly conceiving every part of his 
duty to have a claim upon him, and appreciating the ben- 
eficial influence which his situation enabled him to exert 
on the interests of the establishment and of Christianity, 
he appeared regularly in his place in church courts, and 
took on him a large proportion of the burden of the 
business that came before these assemblies. Indeed, for 
the last few years of his life, such was his acquaintance 
3 



xxvi 



MEMOIR OF 



with form, such his aptitude in the application of prece- 
dents and statutes, such his ability and eloquence' in de- 
bate, and such the estimation in which his opinions and 
character were held, that that party in the church to 
which he was conscientiously attached, and which must 
always regard it as not the least of its distinctions and 
recommendations to have numbered him among its 
adherents, spontaneously, and by silent consent, looked 
up to him as its leader. 

This is not the place for detail, otherwise it would be 
easy to record numerous instances of the zeal and 
effect with which he maintained the ancient struggle of 
the church against the inroads of a debasing and secu- 
larizing policy. In every question of principle he 
espoused the side of truth and justice, in opposition to 
the maxims of expediency ; a regard to which, where 
there exists a definite moral rule of conduct, he justly 
regarded as the bane of churches and of public institu- 
tions. With admiration, mingled with affectionate re- 
gret, many of the readers of this sketch will recal the 
triumphs of his eloquence on the highest theatre of its 
display — the General Assembly ; and will accompany 
the recollection with a profound feeling of gratitude to 
the man who so often lifted up his intrepid voice, in 
tones that found an echo in every parish in Scotland, 
against the power that would thrust upon a people hun- 
gering for the bread of life, a heartless and unqualified 
pastor; who fearlessly stood forth the champion of 
resistance to the mandates of unauthorized dictation 
and intrusive influence ; and who, with an energy and 
eloquence all his own, repudiated and denounced that 
union of secular with ecclesiastical offices, by which 



DR. THOMSON. 



xxvii 



the sacredness of the pastoral character is deteriorated, 
and the unity of the pastoral obligation is violated. If 
to him the church be not indebted for a return to the 
principles and practices by which she was character- 
ized in the days when, purified by persecution, she 
stood first among the churches of the Reformation — to 
him, and to the kindred labors of our Erskines and our 
MoncriefFs, whose mantle he had caught, does she in a 
great measure owe the remembrance of these princi- 
ples and practices. By his exertions, in no inconsider- 
able degree, the ancient landmarks of our ecclesiastical 
constitution have been kept prominently in view; a 
desire for something better than the existing order of 
things has been preserved and transmitted ; the watch- 
words of primitive order and popular rights have been 
dignified and hallowed by an association with a mighty 
name ; and a prospect has been opened to the hopes 
of the church of brighter days, and of " times of re- 
freshing from the presence of the Lord." 

But while he was thus, firmly, and on principle, 
identified with a particular party in the church, few 
men displayed in private life less of the narrow and 
exclusive spirit of party. His attachment to principles 
he bore with him everywhere : but the animosity and 
grudging, which are apt to cleave to minds of a secon- 
dary order, were strangers to his bosom ; and with the 
men with whom he entered into keenest conflict on the 
arena of debate, he could meet on terms of the most 
unhesitating good will when the struggle was over, 
willing to exchange with them all the courtesies of social 
intercourse, or to co-operate with them in any good 
work in which they might require his aid, or solicit his 



XXV111 



MEMOIR OF 



countenance. His was a mind that spurned the base- 
ness of smothered resentment. He knew nothing of 
the creeping feeling that is " willing to wound, but yet 
afraid to strike." What he felt he expressed strongly 
and boldly ; and if a brother felt aggrieved, none was 
more forward than he to make allowance for the ex- 
pression of irritated feeling ; or if, in a hasty moment, 
he had given undesigned cause of offence, none was 
more prompt in making reparation. If he was a for- 
midable, his opponents will allow, that he was also an 
open, and a generous antagonist. 

As a minister of the church of Scotland, he was 
deeply and conscientiously attached to her institutions 
and her interests. But because, as a churchman, he 
walked about our Zion, and went round about her, 
telling her towers, admiring her palaces, and employing 
all his energies in the defence of her bulwarks, his was 
not that exclusive and churlish spirit which saw nothing 
but barrenness beyond the enclosure, within which 
Providence had cast his lot. He mingled freely and 
cordially with dissenters of all descriptions, in whom he 
could trace the characters of genuine Christianity. The 
strength of his own convictions, as a churchman, only 
gave him a stronger sympathy in the conscientious con- 
victions of the persons who differed from him. He felt 
too, that the cause he had embraced, was in no danger 
from any compliances which, on the ground of good 
feeling, or social observance, he might be induced to 
make. Above all, he felt that the differences between 
the great bodies of dissenters in this country, and the 
church of which he was a member, bore no proportion 
to the bond which unites Christians of every name in 



DR. THOMSON. 



xxix 



the fellowship of one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one 
God and Father of all." That alone which repelled 
him in a dissenting brother, was a display on the part 
of that brother of the qualities which he himself ab- 
horred, and of which no trace, to an unprejudiced eye, 
could be discovered in his conduct. 

Although it was impossible that a mind like his could 
be indifferent to anything that concerned the well-being 
of his country, he took no public share in party poli- 
tics. That he had decided views on all the important 
questions that divided the political world during the 
eventful period in which he lived, is certainly true ; 
and that in private, or on any occasion in which his 
duty as a member of ecclesiastical courts called for the 
expression of his opinion, he was ready to express that 
opinion frankly and fearlessly, is equally true : but to 
his honor, it is to be recorded, that with a mind pe- 
culiarly awake to whatever involved the interests or the 
fame of his country, and with talents that peculiarly 
fitted him for maintaining the first place in all discus- 
sions of a public and exciting nature, so strong was his 
sense of the sacredness of the ministerial character, and 
so ready was he to sink all inferior or individual con- 
siderations in a regard to the solemn interests that were 
suspended on his relation to his flock, that he uniformly 
stood aloof from scenes of political contention, and be- 
queathed, in his example, an instructive illustration of 
the power of religious principle in enforcing self-denial, 
as to things in themselves lawful, but which in certain 
circumstances may not be expedient. Yet while such 
was the enlightened principle by which he was guided, 
it were a sacrifice of truth not to add, that his forbear- 
*3 



XXX 



MEMOIR OF 



ance did not always meet the award it deserved. With 
a certain class of minds, nothing but perfect, uninquir- 
ing, unhesitating acquiescence in all the dogmas they 
may happen to have adopted, is regarded with favor ; 
and to minds of this description, the manly, independent 
views of Dr. Thomson, were peculiarly unpalatable. 
Had he been an ordinary man, they might, without 
remark, have suffered him to pursue the course his 
conscience dictated, even had that course led him to 
mingle deeply in the strifes of party. But for such a 
man not to be with them, was, in their eyes, a crime 
of scarcely less magnitude than to be against them. 
Perhaps, too, there mingled in the asperity with which 
they were disposed to regard him, an unconscious con- 
viction, that, think what they would, and say what they 
might, he was able to bear it all. But whatever was 
their motive, and however mixed that motive might be, 
certain it is, it had the effect of exposing his conduct 
on some occasions to unjustifiable misconstruction; and 
on others to a degree of censure and animadversion, on 
which, it is possible the parties concerned now look 
back with sincere, though, as it relates to him, unavail- 
ing regret. 

In addition to the interest which he felt and mani- 
fested in whatever was connected with his duty as a 
minister, he took upon him a large share of the man- 
agement of the city charities and of those public institu- 
tions which have for their object the alleviation of the 
temporal wants or of the spiritual miseries of mankind. 
He was ever ready at the call of the public, either to 
act as a director of its various societies, or to plead 
their cause from the pulpit. And this co-operation on 



DR. THOMSON. 



xxxi 



his part with all that was benevolent and useful, was 
rendered with a cordiality and a cheerfulness, that put 
the idea of obligation out of sight; and invited new 
and increasing demands on his leisure and attention. 

From this principle of benevolent interest in the 
religious institutions of the country, sprang the part he 
so prominently took, in the recent discussions to which 
certain well known proceedings of the directors of the 
British and Foreign Bible Society have unhappily given 
rise. From the commencement of the British and 
Foreign Bible Society, he entered warmly into its 
views. With the great body of the Christian public, he 
regarded its institution as an era in the history of the 
church of Christ ; he saw in it a mighty instrument of 
enlightened philanthropy ; and he hailed it as a presage 
of the predicted glory of the latter days. When it was 
struggling for existence against the calumnies and 
attacks of mistaken and narrow-minded zeal, he fought 
its battles : and with justice he was esteemed one of its 
warmest friends and ablest advocates. Unhappily, how- 
ever, when war had ceased without, the elements of a 
more fatal convulsion began to gather and to show 
themselves within. To the astonishment of the con- 
fiding friends of the institution, it was demonstrated, 
beyond the possibility of dispute, that while, according 
to the leading principle of the Society, the Bible, with- 
out note or comment, was the only book which its 
directors were empowered to circulate, its funds were 
applied to the printing and circulation of a Bible un- 
known to the protestants of this country — a Bible in 
which the writings known by the name of " the Apoc- 
rypha," were mixed up, and put on a level with those 



XXXll 



MEMOIR OF 



" Scriptures which are given by inspiration of God." 
It is not too much to say, that the discovery came upon 
the Christian public with the force of a thunderbolt. 
All confidence in men, or in the most solemn protesta- 
tions and professions, seemed to be at an end ; and the 
first impulse, on the part of all who gave the subject 
an unbiassed consideration, was to demand not only 
that there should be an immediate return to the pri- 
mary principle of the Society, but that its management 
should no longer be committed to men who had shown 
themselves incapable of being bound by what appeared 
the strongest obligations of Christian principle and 
moral feeling. Here it had been well, if first impres- 
sions had been consulted. To many of the friends of 
the institution, however, the Bible Society had been so 
long identified with the Bible which it professed to cir- 
culate, that the idea of abandoning it, seemed fraught 
with hazard to the best interests and hopes of Chris- 
tianity. When, therefore, the directors of the Society, 
instead of listening to the remonstrances that were ad- 
dressed to them from all quarters, and especially from 
the friends of the Society in Edinburgh, attempted to 
justify their conduct, on the pretext of an alleged am- 
biguity in the terms in which the object of the institu- 
tion was expressed, and even on the ground of expe- 
diency, many of those with whom Dr. Thomson had 
previously associated, withdrew their testimony against 
the proceedings in question, expressed satisfaction with 
certain half-measures to which the directors pledged 
themselves for the future, and intimated an earnest 
anxiety that all farther allusion to the past should be 
dropped. To the ardent mind of Dr. Thomson, such a 



DR. THOMSON. 



xxxiii 



course, whether on the part of the directors in London, 
or of their friends in Edinburgh, seemed nothing short 
of a dereliction of the first duty which man owes to the 
gracious Being who, in giving us a revelation of his will, 
has entrusted us with a talent which we can never do 
enough to guard from injury, and to preserve untarnished 
and entire as it reached us from his hands. With his char- 
acteristic energy, he enlisted himself on the side of what 
he conceived, and rightly conceived, to be the cause both 
of God and man ; and summoning the resources of his 
powerful mind to the task, he devoted many of the days 
and nights of the latter years of his life in following the 
misjudging adherents of the British and Foreign Bible 
Society, through the maze of misrepresentation and 
sophistry, into which their short-sighted policy or ob- 
sequious predilections had plunged them. In this 
labor, worthy of a mind devoted, in the face of good 
report and of bad report, to the service of God, but 
from which a mind cast in a less firm mould would 
have shrunk, he had the satisfaction of carrying with 
him the convictions and the suffrages of a large majority 
of the people of Scotland. Yet, if for a moment he 
dreamed that the path on which he had entered was 
level and smooth, he was speedily destined to learn his 
mistake. Reproaches and misrepresentations assailed 
him from quarters whence he had the least reason to ex- 
pect them. Some of the persons who had stood by his 
side at the commencement of the conflict, and who had 
rendered themselves conspicuous by the forwardness 
of their zeal, if not by the soundness of their discretion, 
thought fit to desert him ; and others, on whose coun- 
tenance and aid he might reasonably have calculated, 



xxx iv 



MEMOIR OF 



looked coldly on, and chafed his spirit, if they could 
not sour his temper, or damp his exertions, by the tone 
of their advice.* 

It is not to be doubted, that the effect produced upon 
Dr. Thomson's mind, by the manner in which some of 
the leading advocates of the directors of the British 
and Foreign Bible Society conducted their share, of what 
has been called " The Apocryphal Controversy," made 
an impression on his health. Naturally of a more than 
usually robust constitution, he was capable of under- 
going great fatigues ; nor was his temper of that sen- 
sitive and morbid character which dwells upon imag- 
ined injuries, or exaggerates petty slights into serious 
wrongs. Still the personal tone which the controversy 
assumed in the hands of persons who, in the absence of 
argument, had recourse to recrimination and insult, 
combined with the sleepless nights and busy days which 
the part he had undertaken imposed on him, silently 
wore down the strength of his constitution, and pre- 
pared it for yielding to that blow, unexpected perhaps 
by all but himself, which put a perpetual period to his 
labors and anxieties. Nothing, however, while life 
remained, was permitted to stand in the way of his 
exertions in behalf of his flock or of the cause of Chris- 
tianity at large. While suffering from symptoms of the 

* Yet, " Raro eminentes viri non magnis adjutoribus usi sunt ; ut duo 
Scipiones, duobus Lseliis, quos per omnia sequaverunt sibi; ut Divus 
Augustus M. Agrippa;" — and the truth of this remark of the Roman his- 
torian, Dr. Thomson had the good fortune to experience in the friendly 
and efficient co-operation of many good and able men — and of none which 
the friends of the Bible cause have reason more highly to value, than that 
of Robert Haldane, Esquire, to whose exertions in behalf of the great 
object which Dr. Thomson had at heart, it would be injustice not to 
advert. 



DR. THOMSON. 



XXXV 



most depressing description, he was always at his post, 
ready with his pen, or with the still more effective 
instrumentality of his living voice, to forward the inter- 
ests of pure and undefiled religion. In a state of 
health, which, to most men, would have furnished an 
irresistible plea for seclusion from the excitement of 
public business, he paid a visit to London ; where, if 
he did little to place the ground of controversy between 
the two societies of London and Edinburgh in its 
proper light, before the religious public of the metrop- 
olis, the failure is to be ascribed to some other cause 
than a deficiency of zeal, of exertion, or of eloquence 
on his part. Inconsiderable as was his success in the 
metropolis, he had at least the satisfaction of doing all 
that was in his power, to bring the cause of the integ- 
rity of divine truth to an issue, in that quarter where 
it was most desirable that the question should be fairly 
heard and tried. 

It is but justice, however, to the opponents of the 
cause in which Dr. Thomson was embarked, to say, 
that while his labors, and those of his associates in the 
cause of pure Bible circulation, failed of the grand 
object in view, they were not altogether destitute of 
success. While it is difficult to account for the con- 
duct of the abettors of conjoint Bible and Apocryphal 
circulation, on -any principle that will entirely save 
them from an imputation, unfavorable to the soundness 
of their moral perceptions, it is not to be forgotten, that 
the best of men are not exempt from serious frailties ; 
that in some minds there seems to be a sort of natural 
deficiency of moral tact, which nothing can entirely 
supply ; and that in others, a deficiency of the same 



xxxvi 



MEMOIR OF 



sort is liable to be induced, by habits of deference to 
authority, or of judging of the morality of actions by a 
reference to their consequences. On principles such 
as these, we are to account for the conduct of many of 
the official personages intrusted with the management 
of the funds and operations of the British and Foreign 
Bible Society ; and to explain their blindness to the 
serious error in point of principle, and the no less 
serious mischief in point of consequences, involved in 
their departure from the primary law of the institution ; 
and the pertinacity with which they still seem willing to 
adhere to their mistaken policy, in spite of the warn- 
ings and remonstrances which have been addressed to 
them. It cannot be doubted that, in the hearts of many 
even of those who seem resolute in error, the love of 
the Bible is really seated ; and to this cause we are 
willing to ascribe the disposition, tardy and reluctant as 
it was, to compromise the question at issue between 
them and their antagonists in the north. And, though 
in such a case as that in which the honor and integrity 
of the divine word are involved, anything short of a 
return to the principle, of giving no countenance, direct 
or indirect, to a corruption of the sacred volume, must 
be regarded as less than the obligations of duty demand, 
still we are not to overlook any approximation to the 
principle, nor be unwilling to recognize in it the pre- 
sage of better things in time to come, when the heats 
of excited feeling are allayed, and the lights of experi- 
ence are brought to bear on a subject darkened by the 
contentions of rival opinions. To such an issue, des- 
pite of many discouraging appearances, we doubt not, 
things are rapidly tending. It were to despair of the 



DR. THOMSON. 



XXXV ii 



triumph of truth and righteousness, to imagine that the 
controversy between the London and Edinburgh Soci- 
eties could always remain as it is. Time alone is re- 
quired to inform the public mind of the nature and im- 
portance of the objects at stake, in order to work a 
change on the feeling of the people of England with 
regard to it. We have but to look a little way into the 
future to see the clouds that at present hang over the 
part taken by the several combatants cleared away; 
the cause of divine truth vindicated ; the asperities pro- 
duced in the course of the discussion forgiven and for- 
gotten ; and some of the very men who have been most 
wedded to false principles, and a mistaken policy, 
hastening to repair their error, by doing justice to the 
characters of those by whom that error was first pointed 
out, and by returning to the broad highway of " sim- 
plicity and godly sincerity," from which it had been 
happy they had never departed. Till this desirable 
consummation arrive, the friends of the purity of the 
divine record must pursue their path alone, satisfied 
that while they keep the honor of the God of truth in 
view, they are following a pillar of fire and cloud, which 
cannot mislead, and will not forsake them.* 

* Since these lines were written, the British and Foreign Bible Society- 
has held its annual meeting for 1831. And, however little the proceedings 
of that meeting may be calculated to encourage hopes founded on the good 
sense, or Christian feeling of the directors, they open a gratifying prospect 
in another quarter. A reaction in the public mind can scarcely fail to be 
the consequence of such glaring indiscretion, and such culpable indifference 
to all that is distinctive in Christian principle and Christian character, as 
are displayed by the resolutions finally agreed to at the meeting. Already, 
unequivocal symptoms of this reaction have begun to appear 5 in proof of 
which we need only refer to the proceedings of the last annual meeting of 
the London Naval and Military Bible Society, at which the resolution, 
negatived only the week before at the British and Foreign Bible Society, 

4 



xxxviii 



MEMOIR OF 



The manner in which Dr. Thomson managed his 
share in this controversy must not be passed in silence. 
It was with all his heart and soul that he entered into 
the controversy : he brought all his powers to aid him 
in doing justice to it ; and for a time at least, his whole 
mind and time were absorbed in it. In the object con- 
tended for, he beheld a principle at stake, which, as a 
Christian, a protestant, and a minister, he was bound 
to vindicate and maintain. It was not merely whether 
certain funds had been wisely or imprudently applied ; 
whether certain individuals, to whom the public had 
been taught to look up with confidence, had been faith- 
ful to their trust; whether a less degree of good had 
been done, than the world, who heard of the operations 
of the society, had been led to imagine. Important as 
these considerations were, they were not the questions 
which especially struck his mind, in the discoveries 
which accident had made, of the proceedings of the 
directors and agents of the British and Foreign Bible 
Society. In the conduct of the society, as represented 
by these individuals, he beheld the grand leading prin- 
ciples of morality and religion placed in jeopardy. He 
saw the marked line of separation, which the Divine 
Being has drawn between his word and the imaginations 
of his fallible creatures, trodden down, and, so far as 
the operations of the society on the continent were 
concerned, in danger of being obliterated : He saw the 

was carried by an overpowering majority. Will such a fact as this have 
no weight with the directors of the last mentioned Society ; or, unwarned 
and untaught, will they pursue their headlong career, till, deserted by all 
the genuine friends of the Bible, and of the religion of the Bible, they find 
themselves alone, in melancholy fellowship with Arians, Socinians, and 
Freethinkers, the dregs and the refuse of nominal Christianity ? 



DR. THOMSON. 



xxxix 



broad seal of heaven wrested from the page on which 
it had been impressed by the ringer of God, and placed 
unscrupulously, and without discrimination, on lying 
legends and on "the true sayings of God." In all 
this, he beheld an object fitted to awaken all the energy 
of a mind trained to tremble at the Divine Word, to 
rouse into indignant and irrepressible feeling all the 
sensibilities of a soul that was "very jealous for the 
Lord God of Hosts." 

It is easy for those whom providence has destined to 
dull mediocrity, by the constitutional slowness of their 
apprehensions, or the coldness of their feelings, to per- 
ceive, in the ardor with which Dr. Thomson prosecuted 
his task of exposing and rebuking what he regarded as 
criminal delinquency, something to censure : easy too, 
for those who have never mingled in the strife of 
"earnest contending for the faith once delivered to the 
saints," but have satisfied themselves with looking on, from 
the seclusion of their study, at the shock of arms, and the 
alternations of the battle, to be wise and charitable at the 
expense of the combatants : easier still for those, who 
have no sympathy in the object contended for, to rep- 
robate the zeal with which the struggle for it is main- 
tained. But, if we would form a correct estimate of 
the conduct of Dr. Thomson, in relation to the British 
and Foreign Bible Society, we must at once possess 
something of his character, and find ourselves placed 
nearly in his circumstances. The very features of his 
character as a controversialist, which m3y seem most 
to require softening, were connected with qualities for 
which his memory deserves most to be honored, [f he 
assumed a decided attitude, and made use of strong 



xl 



MEMOIR OF 



language, it was not because he cared little for the feel- 
ings, or was reckless of the character of his antagonists, 
but because his zeal for the truth made him less alive 
than were the lukewarm and the timid, to the effect his 
occasional warmth might have, on those with whom a 
sense of duty brought him into collision. In a struggle, 
unusually protracted, and in which, on- the side of the 
opposite party, in some memorable instances, not the 
courtesies of debate merely, but the restraints of Chris- 
tian feeling and ordinary decorum were violated, it is 
not to be wondered at that he should at times have 
caught the tone of his assailants — that he should occa- 
sionally have descended from the high ground of prin- 
ciple to occupy a position, in which, though he was not 
less formidable, he appeared personally to less advan- 
tage — that, in short, like Luther and Calvin, and others, 
bis predecessors in the task of correcting great abuses, 
he should occasionally have been tempted to forget 
that " long forbearing" is sometimes the surest parent 
of " persuasion," and that it is " a soft answer" which 
the wise man tells us " breaketh the bone." Jf more 
need be said on the subject, he himself has said it,* in 
terms that leave us only to regret the close alliance of 
great virtues with occasional errors, and which must 
satisfy even those who have least sympathy with the 
workings of such a nature as his, that insensibility to his 
imperfections formed no feature of his character. 

During the course of the winter preceding that in 
which he died, he composed and preached a series of 
discourses in reference to certain errors prevalent at 



* See Dr. Thomson's speech at the extraordinary meeting of the Edin- 
burgh Bible Society, on the 1st March, 1830. 



DR. THOMSON. 



Xli 



the time among many sincere, it is to be hoped, though 
mistaken Christians. These discourses are before the 
public ; and in them, and in the notes appended to 
them, such as feel an interest in the confutation of the 
errors in question, will find the kindred subjects of uni- 
versal pardon, and of personal assurance as essential to 
the nature of genuine faith, discussed with much elo- 
quence and judgment ; while they who wish merely 
to obtain clear and scriptural views of the doctrine of 
the atonement, and of the nature and workings of Chris- 
tian experience, will meet with much in the volume to 
reward a careful perusal. In many parts of it, the au- 
thor, in addition to his usual acuteness in the discrim- 
ination of character, and power of addressing himself 
to the conscience and heart, displays an extent of the- 
ological knowledge, and a clearness of doctrinal state- 
ment, of which his preceding publications had not per- 
haps afforded such decided examples. His acquaint- 
ance with human nature, his dexterity in searching to 
the bottom of it for the remote springs of thought and 
action, and his happy faculty of disembarrassing per- 
plexed and intricate subjects, and of imparting a prac- 
tical interest to topics which, in other hands, are apt to 
appear scholastic and uninviting, are also displayed to 
great advantage. 

The last great public effort of Dr. Thomson was in 
behalf of the slave population of our West India colo- 
nies. In a note to a sermon published in his volume 
of " Discourses on various Subjects," he had taken up 
the question of the remedial measures proposed in be- 
half of that oppressed class of our fellow-subjects, and, 
with his characteristic frankness, declared himself an 
*4 



xlii 



MEMOIR OF 



advocate for immediate emancipation. The opinion he 
thus expressed was not the result of sudden impulse, 
but of a deliberate and well weighed consideration of 
the subject of compulsory servitude in all its bearings. 
On the one hand, he looked to the principles of moral- 
ity and of the Scriptures; and from them he learned 
that to hold a fellow-creature in bondage is directly to 
violate the rule which dictates the same treatment of 
our neighbor as we ourselves have a right to expect 
from him. And to the mind of Dr. Thomson it ap- 
peared no less a crime to assume a right of property 
in a man under the tropics, than it would be to transfer 
that claim to the mother country, and to extend it over 
those who go out and come in among ourselves. 

And, if in this conclusion, at which, in common with 
all disinterested persons, he had arrived, he was forti- 
fied by an appeal to the first principles of justice and 
humanity, his convictions acquired additional strength 
when he adverted to the evils which the system of 
slavery entails upon those by whom it is upheld, no less 
than upon those whose comfort and improvement it 
more immediately affects. For some time past, the 
public has been familiar with the complaints of the 
planters, that their property has fallen in value ; and the 
least consideration of the subject is sufficient to convince 
every reasonable mind, that the cause is to be sought, 
not in accidental circumstances, but in the system of 
slavery itself. According to the West Tndia proprie- 
tors, nothing can save their property and restore it to 
its former value, but a return to the system of absolute 
noninterference on the part of this country with their 
treatment of their slaves, or perhaps, as the language 



DR. THOMSON. 



xliii 



of one of their recent manifestoes would seem to inti- 
mate, a renewal of the traffic in slaves. But for this 
Great Britain obviously is not prepared. And if not, 
are things then to continue as they are ? Can the planter 
desire it ? or will the slave long permit it ? Colonial 
produce is at present depreciated ; the colonies them- 
selves are not what they were in point of productive- 
ness; a spirit of insubordination and misrule is preva- 
lent among the negroes : the slave eyes his master with 
the feeling of a foe, and goes through his work with the 
langor and reluctance characteristic of a state, in which 
the impulse of gratitude and the stimulus of hope are 
unknown. Some remedy for such a state of things 
must be sought and found. And Dr. Thomson, and 
those who think with him on this important subject, 
conceive that such a remedy presents itself in the 
abolition of slavery itself. The efficacy of the remedy 
they conceive to be founded in the immutable princi- 
ples of human nature. Nor, in the conclusion to which 
they come in regard to it, do they rely on mere ab- 
stract and general principles. In the history of all 
states that have arrived at real and permanent greatness, 
they think they can trace a connexion, between the 
diffusion of freedom and the growth of national pros- 
perity ; and, in following the unwavering light of ex- 
perience, they conceive that they are proposing neither 
an uncertain nor a hazardous experiment — depriving 
the planter of nothing really valuable in his property, 
but placing that property upon a firm and stable foun- 
dation, by removing the causes which are silently sap- 
ping and undermining it. 



xliv 



MEMOIR OF 



With the friends of humanity and religion, and, it 
may be added, of true policy, Dr. Thomson was so far 
cordially united. The only point on which his views 
differed from those of any of this class, related to the 
time at which the grand measure of abolition should be 
carried into effect. It has been already observed that 
he declared for immediate steps with a view to this ob- 
ject. And to this conclusion he came, not only as a 
legitimate deduction from the general principles already 
adverted to, but as a consequence of his observation of 
the conduct of some of those persons who, while they 
acknowledged his principles, found pretexts for evading 
the practical results to which these naturally conducted. 
For years the evils of a state of slavery had been de- 
nounced ; and, such was the notoriety of the facts, that 
they could not be denied. Parliament, reluctantly 
perhaps, but, governed by the voice of the nation, de- 
cidedly had expressed its desire that an immediate 
period should be put to the more glaring of these evils, 
and had even gone the length of recommending a 
course of ameliorating measures, with a view to the 
ultimate extinction of the state of society which gave 
them birth.* Yet years had passed, and nothing com- 
paratively had been done. In some quarters the 
recommendation of government had been met on the 
part of the planters and the colonial legislatures, by a 
decided expression of contempt, accompanied by a 
declaration of their irresponsible right of property in 
their slaves. And in those islands where something 
like a show of deference and compliance was exhibited. 



* See Mr. Canning's resolutions in 1823, on which the colonies have been 
called to act, with a few exceptions, in vain. 



DR. THOMSON. 



xlv 



facts were daily developing themselves, which proved 
that it was vain to hope for the accomplishment of any 
great design of benevolence, through the instrumentality 
of men who avowed their interest, in perpetuating that 
order of things which it was the object of benevolence 
to bring to an end. Under these circumstances, and 
with these facts before him, Dr. Thomson conceived 
that it was a mere loss of time, any longer to entrust 
the measure of abolition to persons, whose prejudices 
were in direct hostility to the views of parliament and 
of the country. When, therefore, the directors of the 
Edinburgh anti-slavery society proposed to hold a 
meeting in October last, and some of them requested 
Dr. Thomson to attend and address the friends of the 
institution, he declared his determination, if he attended, 
to bring forward his own particular views, and to 
deprecate all half-measures, which he foresaw would 
be productive of no good. On the day of the meeting, 
accordingly, Dr. Thomson was present in the assembly 
room ; and after Mr. Jeffrey, the present Lord Advo- 
cate, and some other speakers had addressed the meet- 
ing, he craved permission to state the conclusions at 
which he had arrived. With a power of argument, 
and an earnestness and elevation of tone which can 
never be forgotten, he entered on the subject ; and, in 
a brief speech, explained the points in which he dif- 
fered from the former speakers, as well as those in 
which he agreed with them. Never was the triumph 
of truth and eloquence more complete. Before be had 
concluded, the majority of the meeting was with him : 
the confidence of the directors of the society in the 
measures they had come forward to recommend was 



xlvi 



MEMOIR OF 



shaken ; and in the rapturous acclamations of a crowded 
assembly, had the satisfaction of listening to the first 
echo, which Great Britain through all her provinces is 
yet destined to send back, to the call of justice and re- 
ligion, in behalf of the injured children of her colonies. 

Subsequently to these proceedings, a meeting took 
place of the friends of immediate abolition, at which 
Dr. Thomson attended, supported by the directors of 
the anti-slavery society, who, with a few exceptions, 
had obeyed the general impulse, and entered cordially 
into his enlarged and energetic views. His appearance 
on this occasion has been described by a writer of the 
day, as "a most splendid and varied display of wit, ar- 
gument, and impressive eloquence." The moral dig- 
nity of the subject seemed to have imparted its character 
to the man and to his eloquence. Never perhaps did 
he appear more truly great. 

In the course of his address he took an opportunity 
of more fully developing his views on the important 
question of immediate emancipation. To many, the 
word immediate has proved a formidable stumbling 
block, suggesting the idea of a sudden dissolution of 
all the bonds by which society in the colonies is held 
together. To such persons it might seem necessary 
only to say, that freedom in this country is attended by 
no such unhappy results ; and that which experience 
proves to be no evil in this country, need not, unless 
through culpable mismanagement, be an evil elsewhere. 
The truth is, while an immediate declaration of freedom 
in behalf of the slave population of the colonies is de- 
manded by every principle of justice, humanity, religion, 
and sound political wisdom, it is the duty of those, 



DR. THOMSON. 



xlvii 



whose province it is to make the declaration, to accom- 
pany it by such precautionary provisions as shall strip 
it of its tendency to produce confusion and misrule, and 
as shall thoroughly meet the peculiar exigencies of a 
new state of society. The thing wanted, in order to 
the safe accomplishment of the object of the friends of 
immediate emancipation, is not means, but inclination. 
Whenever the latter shall exist in the proper quarter, 
in a degree to outweigh the suggestions of interest or 
indifference, methods will easily be discovered of ad- 
justing the claims, and allaying the fears of the planter 
on the one hand ; and on the other, of introducing the 
slave, without risk or inconvenience, to the enjoyment 
of the blessings of free and civilized society. 

Meanwhile, it is for the friends of the planters, and 
of their oppressed dependents, to persevere in their en- 
deavors to bring about the termination of a state of 
things not less unnatural, than it is full of hazard to 
property and life. Nothing but the timely adoption of 
decided measures in behalf of our slave population can 
arrest the crisis, to which injustice on the one side, and 
unmerited wrongs on the other but too surely tend. In 
vain is it for the advocates of slavery to imagine that 
their unrighteous reign will always be permitted to last. 
Already there are symptoms in the colonies of the 
awaking of that mighty spirit, whose voice none can 
hear and be a slave — the spirit which gained for 
Britons, under a less genial sky, the blessings of free- 
dom, of civilization, and of religion, of equal laws and 
liberal institutions. Chain down that spirit, and its hour 
of triumph may be delayed, and its vigor may for a 
time waste itself in silent aspirations, or in ineffectual 



xlviii 



MEMOIR OF 



struggles : but it will not expire. Dark passions will 
spring from its wrongs, and grow up by its side : envy, 
hate, a festering sense of undeserved injury, prompting 
to revenge, together with despair of attaining by lawful 
means its end, will goad it on to some lawless, reckless, 
desperate act of wide-spread rebellion, in which the 
planter and his property will perish together, and the 
bond between the colonies and the mother-country 
will be snapt as by the convulsive force of an earth- 
quake. 

" Long trains of ill may pass unheeded, dumb : 
But vengeance is behind, and justice is to come." 

To arrest the progress of the colonies to a consum- 
mation so terrible, though perhaps, when we revert to 
their history, not inappropriate, — as well as to vindicate 
the eternal principles of right and humanity, are the ob- 
jects of the friends of immediate emancipation. And 
happy will it be, if the success of their endeavors be 
permitted to anticipate and supersede the lessons of 
dreadful experience. 

Up to the period of his death, Dr. Thomson occu- 
pied much of his time in promoting this object, so dear 
to the friends of freedom and humanity. He may 
almost be said to have expired while pleading its cause ; 
a worthy termination to the labors of a life, of which 
love to God, issuing in love to man, had been the gov- 
erning principle. 

For some time before his death, his mind, it is be- 
lieved, experienced something of a presentiment of the 
approaching event, which may have been vouchsafed in 
love, to perfect his preparation for his sudden change. 



DR. THOMSON. 



xlix 



More than once, when urged by the members of his own 
family to relieve himself of some portion of the burden of 
affairs which pressed so heavily on him, he replied with 
affectionate solemnity, "I must work the work of Him that 
sent me while it is day ; the night cometh when no man 
can work." The increasing earnestness, richness, and 
variety of his prayers, both in private and in public, are 
also circumstances that struck many, and none more 
than the writer of these pages. 

On the 9th of February, 1831, the day on which 
he died, he appeared to his family in his usual health. 
As was his custom, he rose and breakfasted at an early 
hour. During the devotions of the family, which he 
conducted as usual, he read the last three psalms, and 
he concluded the service by a prayer remarked at the 
time for its spirituality and fervor. After baptizing a 
child, he left his house to pay some visits to the sick ; 
and at a later hour he appeared in his place at a meet- 
ing of the presbytery of Edinburgh, specially convened 
for the purpose of ordaining a minister to one of our 
West India settlements. During his attendance at the 
presbytery, he displayed his usual interest, and took his 
usual share in the business of the court. At the close 
of the meeting, about five in the afternoon, he proceed- 
ed homeward ; and with a friend, who met him by the 
way, he conversed with animation and cheerfulness till 
he reached his own door, on the threshold of which, 
without a struggle or a groan, he suddenly fell, over- 
taken by that summons which recals the " good serv- 
ant" from his labor to his reward. 

In a stroke so sudden, so unexpected, and in all its 
circumstances so well calculated to produce a strong 
5 



1 



MEMOIR OF 



sensation, the public of Edinburgh, and it may be add- 
ed, of Scotland, testified the liveliest interest. Many 
mourned the loss of a friend, a counsellor, a brother in 
adversity, a spiritual father. His congregation felt that 
they had experienced an irreparable bereavement. 
The church of Scotland lamented the removal of one 
of its strongest pillars and most distinguished ornaments. 
And the friends of religion in general beheld in his 
death an event, to the consequences of which they could 
not advert without deep anxiety. The feelings of party 
were merged in the general grief; and they who had 
known him while living, chiefly as a formidable antago- 
nist, hastened to accord to his memory the tribute of 
that affectionate regret, which is usually reserved for 
tried and valued friends; a fact honorable at once to 
the departed, and to those by whom the tribute was 
paid. 

Dr. Thomson is interred in a piece of ground con- 
nected with St. Cuthbert's church-yard, divided only 
by a wall from the spot where lie the remains of his 
venerable friend and father in the church, Sir Henry 
Moncrieff. His funeral was attended by ministers from 
all parts of the country, by the students of the divinity 
classes, who specially requested permission to attend, 
by the members of his own congregation, and by the 
better description of persons of all pursuits and denom- 
inations in Edinburgh ; while throngs of spectators 
lined the streets through which the procession passed, 
testifying by unequivocal signs how sincerely they par- 
took of the feelings of the mourners. 

On the following Sabbath (February 20th) a funeral 
sermon was preached in St. George's church, in the 



DR. THOMSON". 



li 



forenoon, by the Rev. Dr. Chalmers, from Hebrews 
xi. 4.; and another in the afternoon, by the Rev. Dr. 
Dickson of St. Cuthbert's from Psalm cxii. 6. 

Among; the many attempts to delineate the character 
of Dr. Thomson, the following, from the pen of one* 
who knew him well, and whose habits peculiarly qual- 
ify him to do justice to such an effort of friendship? 
deserves particularly to be preserved. It is inserted in 
this place as a suitable close to a necessarily imper- 
fect sketch of some of the leading events of Dr. Thom- 
son's life. 

" During the excitement caused by the sudden death 
of a public man, cut down in the prime of life, and in 
the midst of a career of extensive usefulness, it is easy 
to pronounce a panegyric, but difficult to delineate 
a character which shall be free from the exaggeration 
of existing feeling, and recommend itself to the unbi- 
assed judgment of cool reflection. Rarely has such a 
deep sensation be'en produced as by the recent removal 
of Dr. Thomson; but in few instances, we are per- 
suaded, has there been less reason, on the ground of 
temporary excitation, for making abatements from the 
regret and lamentation so loudly and unequivocally ex- 
pressed. He was so well known, his character and 
talents were so strongly marked, and they were so 
much of that description which all classes of men can 
appreciate, that the circumstances of his death did not 
create the interest, but only gave expression to that 
which already existed in the public mind. 

* Dr. M'Crie, the historian of Knox and of the Reformation. 



\ 



Hi 



MEMOIR OF 



" Those who saw Dr. Thomson once, knew him ; 
intimacy gave them a deeper insight into his character, 
but furnished no grounds for altering the opinion which 
they had at first been led to form. Simplicity — which 
is an essential element in all minds of superior mould — 
marked his appearance, his reasoning, his eloquence, 
and his whole conduct. All that he said or did was 
direct, straight-forward, and unaffected ; there was no 
laboring for effect, no paltering in a double sense. His 
talents were such as would have raised him to eminence 
in any profession or public walk of life which he might 
have chosen — a vigorous understanding, an active and 
ardent mind, with powers of close and persevering ap- 
plication. He made himself master in a short time of 
any subject to which he found it necessary to direct his 
attention, had all his knowledge at perfect command, 
expressed himself with the utmost perspicuity, ease, and 
energy, and when roused by the greatness of his sub- 
ject, or by the nature of the opposition which he en- 
countered, his bold and masterly eloquence produced 
an effect, especially on a popular assembly, far beyond 
that which depends on the sallies of imagination, or the 
dazzling brilliancy of fancy-work. Nor was he less 
distinguished for his moral qualities, among which 
shone conspicuously an honest, firm, unflinching, fear- 
less independence of mind, which prompted him uni- 
formly to adopt and pursue that course which his con- 
science told him was right, indifferent to personal con- 
sequences, and regardless of the frowns and threats of 
the powerful. 

" Besides the instructions of his worthy father, it was 
Dr. Thomson's felicity to enjoy the intimate friendship 



DR. THOMSON. 



liii 



of the venerable Sir Henry MoncriefT, who early dis- 
covered his rising talents, and freely imparted to him 
the stores of his own vigorous and matured mind, and 
of an experience acquired during the long period in 
which he had taken a leading part in the counsels of 
the national church. Though Dr. Thomson was known 
as a popular and able preacher from the time he first 
entered on the ministry, the powers of his mind were 
not fully called forth and developed until his appoint- 
ment to St. George's. He entered on this charge with 
a deep sense of the importance of the station, as one of 
the largest parishes of the metropolis, containing a popula- 
tion of the most highly educated class of society, and not 
without the knowledge that there was in the minds of 
a part of those among whom he was called to labor, a 
prepossession against the peculiar doctrines which had 
always held a prominent place in his public ministra-. 
tions. But he had not long occupied that pulpit, when, 
in spite of the delicate situation in which he was placed 
by more than one public event, which obliged him to 
give a practical testimony (displeasing to many in high 
places) in favor of the purity of presbyterian worship, 
and the independence of the church of Scotland, he 
disappointed those who had foreboded his ill success, 
and exceeded the expectations of such of his friends as 
had the greatest confidence in his talents. By the 
ability and eloquence of his discourses, by the assiduity 
and prudence of his more private ministrations, and by 
the affectionate solicitude which he evinced for the 
spiritual interests of those committed to his care, he not 
only dissipated every unfavorable impression, but seated 
himself so firmly in the hearts of his people, that, long 
*5 



liv 



MEMOIR OF 



before his lamented death, no clergyman in this city, 
established or dissenting, was more cordially revered 
and beloved by his congregation. Nothing endeared 
him to them so much and so deservedly as the attention 
he paid to the young and the sick ; and of the happy 
art which he possessed of communicating instruction to 
the former, and administering advice and consolation 
to the latter, there are many pleasing, and, it is to be 
hoped, lasting memorials. 

" Dr* Thomson was decidedly evangelical in his 
doctrinal sentiments, which he did not disguise or hold 
back in his public discourses ; but he was a practical 
preacher, and instead of indulging in abstruse specula- 
tions or philosophical disquisition, made it his grand aim 
to impress the truths of the gospel on the hearts of his 
hearers. Attached to the church of Scotland from 
principle, not from convenience or accident, he made 
no pretensions to that indiscriminating and spurious lib- 
erality which puts all forms of ecclesiastical polity and 
communion on a level ; but in his sentiments and feel- 
ings he was liberal in the truest sense of the word ; 
could distinguish between a spirit of sectarianism and 
conscientious secession ; never assumed the airs of a 
churchman in his intercourse with dissenters, co-oper- 
ated with them in every good work, and cherished a 
respect for all faithful ministers, which was founded not 
only on the principles of toleration and good will, but 
on the conviction that their labors were useful in supply- 
ing that lack of service on the part of his own church, 
and of counteracting those abuses in her administration, 
which he never scrupled on any proper occasion to 
confess and deplore. 



DR. THOMSON. 



"It is well known that Dr. Thomson belonged to 
that party in the Church of Scotland, which has de- 
fended the rights of the people in opposition to the rig- 
orous enforcement of the law of patronage ; and in ad- 
vocating this cause in the Church Courts, he has, for 
many years, displayed his unrivalled talents as a public 
speaker, sustained by an intrepidity which was unawed 
by power, and a fortitude which was proof against over- 
whelming majorities. Of late years he has devoted a 
great portion of his labors to the defence of the pure 
circulation of the Scriptures, and the emancipation of 
the degraded negroes in the West Indies ; and, in both 
causes, he has displayed his characteristic ability, zeal 
for truth, and uncompromising and indignant reproba- 
tion of every species of dishonesty, injustice, and op- 
pression. His exertions in behalf of the doctrines and 
standards of the church, against some recent heresies 
and delusions, afford an additional proof, not only of 
his unwearied zeal in behalf of that sacred cause to 
which he devoted all his energies, but of his readiness, 
at all times, to " contend earnestly for the faith which 
was once delivered to the saints." 

" Great as Dr. Thomson's popularity was. (and few 
men in his sphere of life ever rose so high in popular 
favor,) he was not exposed to the woe denounced 
against those " of whom all men speak well." He had 
his detractors and enemies, who waited for his halting, 
and were prepared to magnify and blazon his faults. 
Of him 'it may be said, as of another Christian patriot, 
no man ever loved or hated him moderately. This 
was the inevitable consequence of his great talents, and 
the rough contests in which he was involved. His gen- 



Ivi 



MEMOIR OF 



erous spirit raised him above the indulgence of envy 
and every jealous feeling, but it made him less tolerant 
of those who displayed these mean vices. When con- 
vinced of the justice of a cause, and satisfied of its mag- 
nitude, he threw his whole soul into it, summoned all 
his powers to its defence, and assailed its adversaries, not 
only with strong arguments, but with sharp, pointed, 
and poignant sarcasm; but unless he perceived insin- 
cerity, malignity, or perverseness, his own feelings were 
too acute and too just to permit him gratuitously to 
wound those of others. That his zeal was always 
reined by prudence ; that his ardor of mind never hur- 
ried him to a precipitate conclusion, or led him to mag- 
nify the subject in debate ; that his mind was never 
warped by party feeling ; and that he never indulged 
the love of victory, or sought to humble a teazing or 
pragmatic adversary, are positions which his true friends 
will not maintain. But his ablest opponents will admit, 
that in all the great questions in which he distinguished 
himself, he acted conscientiously; that he was an open, 
manly, and honorable adversary ; and that, though he 
was sometimes intemperate, he was never disingenu- 
ous. Dr. Thomson was by constitution a reformer; 
he felt a strong sympathy with those great men who, in 
a former age, won renown, by assailing the hydra of 
error, and of civil and religious tyranny; and his char- 
acter partook of theirs. In particular, he bore no 
inconsiderable resemblance to Luther, both in excel- 
lencies and defects — his leonine nobleness and potency, 
his masculine eloquence, his facetiousness and pleas- 
antry, the fondness which he shewed for the fascinating 
charms of music, and the irritability and vehemence 



DR. THOMSON. 



Ivii 



which he occasionally exhibited, to which some will add 
the necessity which this imposed on him to make retrac- 
tions, which, while they threw a partial shade over his 
fame, taught his admirers the needful lesson, that he was 
a man subject to like passions and infirmities with others. 
But the fact is, though hitherto known to few, and the 
time is now come for revealing it, that some of those 
effusions which were most objectionable, and exposed 
him to the greatest obloquy, were neither composed by 
Dr. Thomson, nor seen by him, until they were pub- 
lished to the world ; and that in one instance, which has 
given rise to the most unsparing abuse, he paid the ex- 
penses of a prosecution, and submitted to make a public 
apology, for an offence of which he was innocent as 
the child unborn, rather than give up the name of the 
friend who was morally responsible for the deed ; — 
an example of generous self-devotion which has few 
parallels. 

" To his other talents, Dr. Thomson added a singu- 
lar capacity for business, which not only qualified him 
for taking an active part in the Church Courts, but ren- 
dered him highly useful to those public charities of 
which the clergy of Edinburgh are officially managers, 
and to the different voluntary societies with which he 
was connected. This caused unceasing demands on 
his time and exertions, which, joined to his other labors, 
were sufficient to wear out the most robust constitution, 
and he at last sunk under their weight. 

" In private life, Dr. Thomson was every thing that 
is amiable and engaging. He was mild, and gentle, 
and cheerful ; — deeply tender and acutely sensitive in 
his strongest affections ; most faithful and true in his 



Iviii 



MEMOIR OF 



attachments of friendship — kindhearted and indulgent 
to all with whom he had intercourse. His firm ad- 
herence to principle, when he thought principle involved, 
whatever appearance of severity it may have presented 
to those who saw him only as a public character, had 
no taint of harshness in his private life ; and unbending 
as he certainly was in principle, he never failed to re- 
ceive with kindness what was addressed to his reason 
in the spirit of friendship. It may indeed be said with 
truth, that, great as were his public merits, and deplor- 
able the public loss in his death, yet to those who had 
the happiness to live with him in habits of intimacy, the 
deepest and the bitterest feeling still is, the separation 
from a man who possessed so many of the finest and most 
amiable sensibilities of the human heart. It was around 
his own family hearth, and in the circle of his intimate 
acquaintances, that Dr. Thomson was peculiarly de- 
lightful. In him the lion and the lamb may be said to 
have met together. It was equally natural in him to 
play with a child, and to enter the lists with a practised 
polemic. He could be gay without levity, and grave 
without moroseness. His frank and bland manners, the 
equable flow of his cheerfulness and good humor, and 
the information which he possessed on almost every 
subject, made his company to be courted by persons 
of all classes. He could mix with men of the world 
without compromising his principles, or lowering his 
character as a minister of the gospel; and his presence 
was enough to repress any thing which had the sem- 
blance of irreligion. 

" The loss of such a man, and at such a time, is 
incalculable. His example and spirit had a wholesome 



DR. THOMSON. 



lix 



and refreshing, an exhilarating and elevating influence, 
on the society in which he moved ; and even the agi- 
tation which he produced when he was in his stormy 
moods, was salutary, — like the hurricane, (his own 
favorite image, and the last which he employed in pub- 
lic,) purifying the moral atmosphere, and freeing it from 
the selfishness and duplicity, and time-serving, with 
which it was over-charged." 



The following is a list of Dr. Thomson's publications. 

Catechism on the Nature and Uses of the Lord's 
Supper, 18mo. — Address to Christian Parents on the 
Religious Education of their Children, 18mo. — The 
Young Warned against the Enticement of Sinners, 
18mo. — Lectures on Select Portions of Scripture, 
12mo. — The Sin and Danger of being " Lovers of 
Pleasure more than Lovers of God," 18mo. — Sermons 
on Infidelity, post 8vo. — Catechism for Young Persons, 
18mo. — Sermons on Hearing the Word Preached, 
18mo. — Lectures on Select Portions of the Psalms, 
post 8vo. — Sermons on Various Subjects, 8vo. — Ser- 
mons on the Doctrine of Universal Pardon, 12mo. — 
Besides occasional Sermons, Pamphlets, and School- 
Books; and his contributions to the Edinburgh Ency- 
clopaedia, the Religious Monitor, and the Christian 
Instructor. 



SERMOJVS 



SERMON I* 



SALVATION BY GRACE. 

EPHESIANS ii. 8. 

For by grace are ye saved, through faith. 

If there be one truth more distinctly stated than another 
in the Bible, it is the truth contained in our text — that 
salvation flows entirely from divine grace, without any 
merit on the part of the sinner to deserve it, and without 
any ability on his part to accomplish it. This truth is 
interwoven with every part of the gospel scheme. It 
stands forth as a leading declaration in the gospel 
record, — and it is that which gives to the gospel, as a 
message from God to our fallen race, all its meaning 
and consistency, all its value and all its effect. 

It is a truth, indeed, which does not find a ready ac- 
cess into the human mind ; and even when it is received, 
that reception is not always so cordial and unreserved as 



* Preached at the introduction of the Rev. John W. Thomson, to the 
church and parish of Monedie, 10th August, 1828. 



62 



SALVATION BY GRACE. 



SER. 1. 



it might be expected to be. We are unwilling to have 
our lofty imaginations brought down, to confess our ig- 
norance, our unworthiness, our insufficiency, — to accede 
to a plan which proceeds upon the mortifying supposition, 
that we can do nothing efficiently for ourselves, and 
must have every thing done for us by the aid and inter- 
vention of another. We have pride of understanding, 
and think ourselves competent to the formation of a 
scheme, which might at least contribute to our salvation, 
if it could not altogether effectuate that object. We 
have pride of heart, and will not acknowledge that moral 
depravity and guilt which at once render salvation nec- 
essary, and incapacitate us for working it out by our 
own ability. In short, we cannot bear to believe that, 
amidst all our fancied attainments and all our seeming 
excellencies, there is nothing truly deserving in us, — to 
lie down, under a sense of our utter nothingness, in the 
dust of deep and unfeigned humility, and to be indebted 
to foreign aid exclusively, for all our blessings and for all 
our hopes. And yet, not only must this high-minded- 
ness be subdued, in order that we may be saved, but 
there is not a position more susceptible of proof than this, 
— that our salvation is wholly of grace. Men may reject 
it, from indifference to all the subjects to which it re- 
lates. They may treat it with ridicule and scorn, from 
misunderstanding its import, or from wantonness of dis- 
position. Or they may deny it, by appealing to princi- 
ples and modes of reasoning which acknowledge not the 
authority of revelation. But it will be found to com- 
mend itself at once to our judgment, our belief, and our 
submission, if we will only consent to take our views 
from that sacred volume, which alone assures us that 
there is salvation, — which tells us in what it consists, — 
which urges us to seek it, and which promises that, 
seeking it as it is offered to us, it will certainly become 
ours. 

It is to the illustration of this truth that we mean at 
present to direct your attention. 



SER. 1. 



SALVATION BY GRACE. 



63 



Now what is the representation which the Scriptures 
give us of our spiritual condition? They declare that 
man is guilty. But do they ever insinuate that he has 
wherewithal to atone for his guilt, or that he can do any 
thing to establish a claim to the pardon and absolution 
that he needs? They assert that he is ignorant. But 
do they assert, that by any exertion of his intellectual 
faculties, he can discover the way of reconciliation and 
eternal life ? They hold him out as in a state of inher- 
ent corruption. But is it their doctrine that he has also 
inherent power to change his heart, and to become the 
partaker of a divine nature ? They represent him as led 
captive by Satan at his will. But do they, anywhere, 
ascribe to him either the wisdom or the energy, that is 
requisite to baffle and overcome this arch-enemy of his 
soul ? They describe him as exposed to numerous diffi- 
culties and temptations. But do they give him the least 
encouragement to think that, if left to himself, he could 
succeed in struggling through the one, or in resisting the 
other? No, indeed, my friends, you cannot have read 
the Scriptures, however superficially, without perceiving, 
that all these questions must be answered in the nega- 
tive. The Scriptures, indeed, give a most melancholy 
and affecting picture of man's fallen condition, but the 
most melancholy and affecting part of it is, that he can- 
not by any efforts of his own deliver himself from the 
ruin in which he is involved, — that in this view his 
wisdom is but folly, his strength weakness, his righte- 
ousness filthy rags, and that, if no interposition had 
taken place in his behalf, he must have inevitably and for 
ever perished. Accordingly, we are told that " Christ 
came to seek and to save that which was lost." As sin- 
ners we were " far off, having no hope and without God 
in the world." And we were "without strength, when 
Christ died for the ungodly." These, and various other 
passages of holy writ, demonstrate, that man as a sinner, 
if abandoned to his own resources, is utterly helpless 
and undone. And while they explicitly state his total 
inability to save himself, they as explicitly ascribe his 



64 



SALVATION EY GRACE. 



SER. 1. 



salvation to the grace of God, and to no other source. 
" God so loved the world as to give his only begotten 
Son that we might live through him." " Ye ar d justi- 
fied freely by the grace of God." " Not by works of 
righteousness which we have done, but according to his 
mercy hath he saved us." " Grace reigns through 
righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our 
Lord." "By grace are ye saved." And, besides a 
multitude of Scriptures to the same effect, we see from 
the whole strain and constitution of the gospel, that it is 
a scheme of mercy free and undeserved, for the benefit 
of creatures who have both forfeited all title to the divine 
favor, and are wholly destitute of the means of regaining 
it, and that the tidings which it brings are good tidings, 
which neither would nor could have proceeded from any 
other source than the compassion of him, who though a 
just God is yet a Saviour, and who, in the character of a 
Savior, is rich in mercy and plenteous in redemption. 

But while it is the grace of God which has thus 
brought salvation to the world at all, it is the grace of 
God also which has brought salvation to us, proclaimed 
it to us, and placed it within our reach. There are 
multitudes of our fellow-creatures who have never 
heard of a Saviour — who are still ignorant of the true 
God, and of Jesus Christ whom he has sent — who are 
living in all the abominations of pagan idolatry, aliens 
from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the 
covenant of promise. But it is not so with us. Unto 
us the word of salvation has been sent; upon our dwell- 
ings the light of divine revelations has been made to 
shine; into our hands has been put the record which 
God has given of his son whom he has sent to save 
sinners; and there have been distinctly unfolded to our 
view the way of eternal life, and the means by which 
we may be enabled to walk in it. Now, what is it that 
has thus made us to differ? what is it that has secured 
for us that superiority, in point of external privilege, 
which we enjoy over the myriads of human beings who 
dwell in the dark places of the earth ? Were we possessed 



SER. 1. 



SALVATION BY GHACE. 



65 



of any previous claims to the favor of the Almighty, 
which would have made it injustice to leave us in a 
state of spiritual darkness, and hopeless degeneracy? was 
it possible for us to have done any thing to merit such a 
high distinction as that to which we have been raised 
by the knowledge of Christianity? Or shall we attribute 
it to mere chance, which equally excludes the inter- 
position of God and the desert of man ? No, my friends, 
in none of these things do we find an adequate cause, 
for that distinguishing privilege which we enjoy, in con- 
sequence of having the dispensation of the gospel com- 
municated to us. We are to seek for it in the sove- 
reign grace of him, in whom the plan of human salvation 
originated, and who alone could, subsequently, deter- 
mine to whom it should be made known, and from whom 
it should be withheld. We cannot tell why it has been 
kept back from such a large proportion of our race, 
The reason has not been revealed to us ; and we have 
no means of discovering it. Perhaps in this, as in many 
other cases, it becomes us to look up to God and say, 
"Even so Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." 
But whatever explanation may be given or conjectured, 
it is obvious that, so far as we are concerned, it is the 
divine favor, neither deserved nor solicited by us, that 
has blessed our lot with the light and mercy of the 
gospel. 

And it is to be observed, still more particularly, that 
it is by the operation of divine grace, that the salvation 
of the gospel is brought to us individually and effectu- 
ally. We are all permitted to hear its joyful sound ; 
but it is a mournful fact that we do not all listen to it, 
and do not all obey it. Among the multitude to whom 
its message is conveyed, there are some only who give a 
cordial welcome to it, and embrace the deliverance 
which it offers, and comply with the terms which it pre- 
scribes. This is a matter of undeniable fact : but it is 
no less true, that if we be among the number, we must 
ascribe our happy situation to the influences of that 
grace without which we can do nothing. Looking to 



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SER. 1. 



the powers of the understanding, and the dispositions of 
the heart, and the .circumstances of the outward condi- 
tion, as these are delineated in Scripture, and experi- 
enced in the case of the natural man, we may well ask, 
" Can these dry bones live ?" And the only answer that 
can be given, is, that they cannot live, unless the spirit 
of God breathe upon them. In our personal character 
there is neither power to effectuate, nor merit to procure, 
that redemption from sin, that restoration to the hope of 
heaven, and that change in the moral constitution of our 
nature, which are denied to those of our fellow creatures 
who are around us and among us — living in the same 
neighborhood, associating under the same roof, and 
receiving the same instruction. We must search some- 
where else for the cause of such a peculiar phenomenon. 
And it is the doctrine of Scripture, that it is God himself 
who begins the good work in us, and carries it on, and 
brings it ultimately to perfection. This is effected, 
indeed, in a manner corresponding with the rational na- 
ture which he has given us. Our understanding is con- 
vinced by sufficient reasons ; and our will is moved by 
suitable motives ; and we act upon principles and exer- 
cise affections which have the full approbation and con- 
currence of our own minds. But still the necessities of 
our spiritual condition require, and the scheme of the 
gospel has provided, that the whole should be under the 
awakening, guiding, constraining, over-ruling influence 
of divine grace. It is grace which — whatever be the 
instrument or medium employed — first brings us from 
darkness into light, and from the power of Satan unto 
God — which enlightens us, and renews us, and makes 
us a peculiar and an obedient people. If we have faith 
to embrace the Saviour, this faith is wrought in us, and is 
the gift of God. If we have repented, that our sins may 
be blotted out, this repentance is given to us, as well as 
the remission with which it is accompanied. If we are 
taught to love God, this love is shed abroad in our 
hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost. In short, if 
there 'be any thing good in our spiritual frame, and 



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67 



if there be any thing valuable in our Christian experi- 
ence — and if any change has been effected in our char- 
acter or our condition as accountable beings — if we are 
living in any measure ss the children of God, cultivating 
their temper, and enjoying their privileges — and if we 
can appropriate to ourselves any of the promises of the 
gospel, or any of the blessings of salvation, the sentiment 
which we hold, and the language we employ, must be 
that of the apostle, when he said "It is by the grace of 
God that I am what I am." Yes ! my Christian friends, 
if the grace of God had not brought you salvation, you 
must have been still in your sins, and in your sins you 
must have perished. As it was in that grace, that the 
economy of redemption took its rise, so it is by the same 
grace that you have not only been made acquainted with 
it, but led also to acquiesce in it — that you have been 
persuaded to accept of him who is mighty to save — that 
you are conducted along the path of righteousness — that 
you are cheered, and upheld, and animated amid your 
manifold trials — that you are enabled to rejoice in the 
hope of glory. And at every step you take in the sa- 
cred and heavenward pilgrimage through which you are 
passing, you have reason to stand still that you may not 
only see the salvation of the Lord your God, but exclaim 
with the mingled feelings of humility and gratitude, 
" Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy great 
name be all the praise." 

It is true, my friends, we speak of the merits of 
Christ as procuring our salvation : and some may be 
inclined to think, that such a position is not altogether 
consistent with the statement, that our salvation is wholly 
of grace. The inconsistency, however, is merely 
ideal. Christ certainly did fulfil the law in our stead — 
he finished transgression, made reconciliation for iniquity, 
and brought in an everlasting righteousness. But 
then you will observe that all this — the thing which he 
did — his manner of doing it — and the success which 
crowned his labors — all this was the gracious appoint- 
ment of God. It is not the right scriptural statement 



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SER. 1. 



that Christ stepped forward, and by a work of mere 
spontaneous suffering and obedience, asserted for sinners 
a title to that which God was not already inclined, or 
had not already determined to bestow. He came from 
God, to execute a plan which God had devised in the 
counsels of eternity : it was by God that he was quali- 
fied for the great undertaking ; and by him was the work 
accepted, because it was both the result of his own 
ordination, and performed according to the decision and 
direction of his own will. And the satisfaction which 
Christ offered to the divine justice, yvas nothing more 
than a necessary measure for attaining the purposes of 
the divine love — a step which it was requisite for mercy 
to take in its glorious march towards the salvation of 
perishing sinners. It is far from being essential to the 
free grace of God, that in its manifestation no attention 
should be paid to his other attributes. On the contrary, 
the glory of each of his perfections is concerned in the 
harmonious exercise of them all. And, accordingly, the 
obedience of Christ was appointed, in order that his holi- 
ness and justice might be fully vindicated, while his pity 
operated for the pardon and redemption of rebellious 
men. But then this was his own appointment: it was 
an expression of his grace, and you may judge of the 
extent of that grace which it exhibited, when you re- 
member that for our deliverance from guilt and ruin, he 
did not spare even his own Son, but sent him into the 
world that he might be made under the law, and pour 
out his soul an offering for sin. This arrangement, 
while it secures the authority of God's government and 
the glory of his character, as well as accomplishes the 
salvation of his fallen offspring, does at the same time 
magnify his grace much more than if our iniquities had 
been blotted out, and our restoration effected, by his 
simple and almighty volition. And therefore it is, that 
the Scriptures, when speaking with peculiar emphasis 
and rapture of the love of God, refer to the mission, and 
incarnation, and death of Christ, as its greatest and most 
overpowering manifestation. 



SER. I. SALVATION BY GRACE. 69 



It is also true that we speak of your being justified 
and saved through faith. And no doubt it is the plain 
doctrine of Scripture, that without this principle we can 
have no well-grounded hope of obtaining forgiveness 
and acceptance. But, then, what is this faith? Not 
only is it a gift of God — one of the fruits of his Holy 
Spirit — wrought in us, and maintained in us, not by our 
own, but by his energy — it is, moreover, that very exer- 
cise of the mind which refers the whole of our redemp- 
tion to the love of God, as manifested, in Jesus Christ. 
It does not, and it cannot, merit redemption. It has no 
efficient virtue in its own nature. It has no more good 
desert in it than any other quality which belongs to the 
renewed mind. It is the appointed means of our be- 
coming experimentally interested in the Saviour, who is 
offered to us. It implies a renunciation of all depend- 
ence upon any thing in ourselves. It is a fixing of our 
dependence upon Him who has been set forth as a 
propitiation for our sins. And that propitiation having 
been instituted solely by the divine mercy, faith can be 
considered as nothing more than trust in that mercy as 
the only ground on which we expect to be saved — as 
the only source from which proceed to us all the bless- 
ings of the gospel. It is in this sense that we are said to 
be "justified by faith." It is in this sense also that we 
are said to be " the children of God by faith in Christ 
Jesus." And it is in this sense, finally, that we are said 
to be " chosen to salvation, through sanctification of the 
Spirit and belief of the truth." 

It is also true that we insist upon the necessity of per- 
sonal righteousness in those who shall be finally saved. 
But neither is this incompatible with the doctrine of free 
grace, as stated in my text. Holiness and happiness 
are, in their own relative nature and in the divine ordi- 
nance, inseparably connected — so that unless you be 
possessed of the one, you cannot be restored to the 
other. You cannot be happy, unless you be qualified 
for the enjoyment of that which constitutes happiness ; 
and this qualification consists in being holy. Holiness, 



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SER. 1. 



therefore, is declared in Scripture to be indispensably- 
requisite. But then this very holiness is to be consid- 
ered as a part of the salvation which is wrought out for 
you by the grace of God. In the exercise of grace to 
which you had no rightful claim, he sent his Son to 
redeem you from your iniquities, and purify you as a 
peculiar people, and to make you zealous of good works. 
It is in the exercise of grace that he communicates to 
you the Holy Spirit, for the very purpose of sanctifying 
your souls. It is in the exercise of grace that he has 
established those sacred ordinances which go to improve 
your mind and character, that he puts it into your heart 
to embrace the ever-recurring opportunities of engaging 
in them, and that he blesses these effectually for your 
good. It is in the exercise of grace that he overrules 
the dispensations of his providence for teaching you 
lessons of spiritual wisdom, and training you to habits of 
piety and heavenly mindedness. And whereas, even in 
your seasons of holiest resolution and most devoted zeal, 
and in the most favorable circumstances in which you 
can be placed, you are unable of yourselves to resist 
temptation, and to perform your duty, and to continue 
steadfast in the path of obedience, his grace is given that 
it may be sufficient for you, and his strength is perfected 
in your weakness. So that in this part of the arrange- 
ment also, salvation is wholly of the grace of God. He 
not only restores you to the hope of eternal life, when 
he might have left you to perish, but he produces in you 
that holy meetness for its exercises and its joys which 
you could never have produced in yourselves, and with- 
out which it never could possibly have been yours. 

In every point of view, therefore, it is by grace that 
ye are saved. It was the grace of God which provided 
salvation for the fallen race of Adam. It was his grace 
that made you acquainted with it, and brought it within 
your reach. It is by his grace that you are effectually 
persuaded to embrace it, and prepared for that eternal 
blessedness in which it terminates. And even in those 
circumstances which at first sight may be thought to 



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SALVATION BY GRACE 



71 



modify, and to limit its freeness and its fulness, we can 
trace not only additional proofs of its existence, but the 
most gratifying illustrations of its tenderness, its riches, 
and its all-sufficiency. 

1. To those of you, my friends, in whose personal 
experience the remarks now made find a counterpart 
and an echo, I need scarcely say that the subject should 
inspire you with gratitude. You know what it is to be 
afar off, and what it is to be brought nigh — you know the 
value of that salvation in which you rejoice, and you 
know that it all emanates from the grace of that God 
whom you had done every thing to offend, and could do 
nothing to conciliate ; and knowing these things, and 
feeling them too, gratitude must be a sentiment of pre- 
vailing and habitual exercise in your minds ; you must 
be conscious that it cannot be too deeply cherished or too 
strongly expressed ; you must lament, that it is so dis- 
proportionate in its warmth and in its constancy, and in 
its practical influence to the riches of that saving grace 
of God, for which it is so justly due. That you may be 
grateful as you ought to be, meditate much, and medi- 
tate often ou this great truth, that all your safety, all 
your blessings, all your expectations, all that is precious 
to you in time and in eternity, comes from that source 
alone. And, especially, let your souls rise in liveliest and 
devoutest fervor to the merciful Being by whose grace 
ye are saved, when you think of that sacrifice of his own 
Son in which you are called to behold at once the reality 
of his love, its exclusive operation in redeeming you, 
the vastness of its extent as exhibited in the costliness of 
its display, and the wisdom, and the efficacy of those 
means by which it has secured for you the salvation 
which it so liberally bestows. Let your souls magnify 
the Lord, and let your spirits rejoice in God your Savior. 

In those moments of sacred retirement, when you hold 
communion with the Father of your spirits and the au- 
thor of your salvation — and while on the family altar, 
you present to him your morning and your evening sac- 
rifices — and while in the tabernacles of his house, you 



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SER, 1. 



unite with the congregations of his people in offering to 
him the tribute of adoration and praise — and while you 
converse with one another in the house, or in the field, 
or by the way, of the beauties of his character, and of 
the greatness of your privileges and your hopes, — forget 
not to acknowledge and to celebrate the magnitude and 
the liberality of that mercy which he has shed upon your 
spiritual lot, and with which he has brightened your 
eternal prospects. And though the infidel is disbeliev- 
ing it all, and the profligate is scoffing at it all, and the 
worldling is neglecting and despising it all, — let the con- 
templation of it elevate your minds with emotions of 
wonder and delight — let your experience of its inesti- 
mable value kindle in your heart the ardors of recip- 
rocal and devoted affection — let it be the song of your 
pilgrimage, whose path it enriches with its bounteous 
gifts, and whose darkest passages it cheers with its great 
and precious promises — and in the thanksgiving of every 
day and of every hour, let there be a preparation for 
enjoying the Halleluiahs of that rapturous and everlast- 
ing anthem which all the redeemed from the earth shall 
sing in that blessed abode which mercy has provided 
for them, " Unto him that loved us and washed us from 
our sins, in his own blood, and made us kings and priests 
unto God even his father — unto him be glory and do- 
minion for ever and ever. Amen." 

2. The subject we have been considering should 
teach you humility. Were you permitted to think that 
any part of your salvation, however inconsiderable, was 
merited or wrought out by yourselves, this thought 
would generate self-complacency ; and from the natural 
tendency of the heart, your own share in the work will 
be so dwelt and doated upon, that even the far larger 
part of it, which you could not but ascribe to divine 
influence and interposition, would frequently be for- 
gotten, and always undervalued ; and thus, though un- 
worthy creatures, you would be high minded and 
proud, and give place to that passion, which, of all 
others, is most hateful to the sovereign God. But the 



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73 



scriptural view of salvation, which we have been 
attempting to illustrate, excludes all boasting, by taking 
away all ground and all pretence for it. All that is 
good in you proceeds from the Father of mercies ; 
nothing that is good is either produced or nourished by 
your own independent energies. Whatever you have, 
therefore, of excellence, or of privilege, or of happi- 
ness — whether it be much or little, reads you a lesson 
of humility : if a vain-glorious emotion at any time rise 
in your breast, it is an intruder, and must be expelled, 
for it is settled, that you possess not one quality to 
warrant or to countenance it : and as thus when you 
give the glory that is due to the grace of God by which 
alone ye are saved, you leave nothing in your own 
character but weakness, imperfection, ignorance, guilt 
and misery, it must be that self-abasement shall take 
possession of your minds, that you shall lie low in dust 
and ashes before Him whose fallen, disobedient, help- 
less creatures you are, and that he shall see in you that 
subdued tone of thinking and feeling, that freedom from 
all pretensions to worth and power, that genuine pov- 
erty of spirit, which will be the signal for communica- 
tions of his promised grace, and make you fit, because 
willing and eager recipients of that undeserved bounty 
which he is so ready to pour out upon his redeemed 
and penitent offspring. Cherish fondly, then, the doc- 
trine of salvation by free grace ; it will make and keep 
you humble, which is at all times and in all cases, your 
appropriate attitude in the presence of God ; and while 
it is thus becoming, it will also prove advantageous, by 
leading you, in the exercise of that humility which it 
inculcates, to seek for the blessings which you need, 
where alone they are ever to be found, in the rich and 
inexhaustible storehouse of his own sovereign mercy. 
And let your humility be deepened by a frequent con- 
templation of the Redeemer's death. That death is a 
most affecting demonstration of your helpless and un- 
done condition by nature, and by wicked works, as well 
of the riches of that grace which interposed in your 



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SER. 1. 



behalf — because if you had not been without all merit, 
and without all resource, it cannot be supposed that 
God would have given up his own dear Son to the 
shame and agony of the cross. Measure the depth of 
your own worthlessness, by the depth of Christ's hu- 
miliation. And give all your vain and lofty imagina- 
tions to the winds. Prostrate yourselves in your inmost 
spirit before the footstool of your God. And in that 
attitude, wait, and watch, and pray for that grace and 
more abundant communications of that grace of His, 
which alone can pardon, and purify, and exalt, and 
save you. 

3. This view of the doctrine of salvation by free 
grace also imparts comfort. It imparts comfort, not 
merely because while you are sinners you have a mer- 
ciful God to look to and to deal with, but also because 
the merciful God takes the whole charge and manage- 
ment of your salvation. Just suppose that any part of 
it were under your own direction — that you had some- 
thing to do either in the formation, or in the execution 
of its plan — that certain points in your treatment of it, 
or in its application to you, had been intrusted to your 
care — would not this have made room for failure, either 
partial or total, and consequently, for distrust and fear- 
ful apprehension ? But knowing as you do, that the 
ignorance, the feebleness, the perversity, the corrup- 
tion of fallen man, have had no share either in devising 
or in accomplishing it — though the cure and removal 
of these evils are the very objects at which it aims — 
and knowing, moreover, that the whole of it, from first 
to last, is the doing of the Lord, to whom no imper- 
fection cleaves, and to whom no attribute is wanting — 
all fearfulness as to the result is out of place, and there 
is the greatest encouragement to believe that it will 
prove as certain, as it promises to be great and happy. 
The grace of God is such as to sustain the best and 
brightest hopes that fallen man can entertain. It is 
rich, tender, abundant, and everlasting. There is no 
evil that it will not remove, there is no blessing that it 



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75 



will not confer. It delights in the salvation of those 
on whom it fixes its regards and sheds its influence : 
and will withhold from them nothing that is good. And 
then it is united in its exercise with every other per- 
fection that inheres in Deity. Its purposes are devised 
and executed in conjunction with a wisdom which errs 
not — a power which nothing can resist — a knowledge 
which embraces all the wants and all the circumstances 
of its objects — a justice which being satisfied by the 
surety will not demand satisfaction from the sinner — 
and a faithfulness which will perform every promise 
that has been made, and will not leave the least and the 
poorest of those about whom it is concerned, till they are 
safely lodged in the mansions of the blessed. And surely, 
my Christian friends, you have in this a consolation 
which you never could have possessed, had any portion 
of the scheme of your salvation been committed to 
yourselves, or to the best, and the wisest, and the most 
perfect of created beings. The consolation is rich, and 
precious, and free from all admixture. Take it then 
and enjoy it in all its fulness. Amidst the many vicis- 
situdes of your Christian lot — amidst the darkness that 
will sometimes envelope you — the convictions of sin, 
and the sense of weakness, and perversity that will often 
distress you — the temptations and the hostilities that will 
occasionally threaten to overwhelm you — the difficulties 
in performing your duty, and in holding fast your integ- 
rity, which will frequently embarrass and perplex you 
— the misgivings of mind, and the pressure of outward 
affliction which cannot fail to visit you — the various 
hardships of life, and the awful approach of death which 
necessarily await you — amidst all these trials, and even 
when every thing seems to wear a forbidding and a 
frightful aspect, let this be your refuge, that by grace 
ye are saved — that you are in the hands of God — that 
he is keeping you as the apple of his eye — that no event 
can frustrate the purposes of his love concerning you — 
that he will make all things, even the worst and sever- 
est dispensations with which you can be overtaken, 



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SER. 1. 



work together for the advancement of your spiritual 
good, and of your eternal felicity. And that you may 
be prepared for taking this consolation along with you 
as you travel through the wilderness, and that your joy 
may be full on account of it, even to overflowing, open 
your hearts continually to the impression of the dying 
of the Lord Jesus. It was the grace of God that ap- 
pointed that method of redemption. Wondrous, indeed, 
must that grace have been which prompted him to make 
such a sacrifice in order to save you. Trust in it now 
and be comforted — trust in it forever, and be forever 
happy. Take this argument along with you. " If God 
spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up 
for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us 
all things" — all things that can contribute to your pres- 
ent safety, and secure your entrance to the promised 
land. Take this argument along with you, and rejoice 
with a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. 

4. The subject we have been considering should 
constrain us to cheerful and universal obedience. If 
the grace of God has been so richly displayed towards 
you, unquestionably it becomes you to be most anxious 
and diligent in doing what is well pleasing to him. Re- 
member, besides, that one essential branch of that sal- 
vation which the grace of God has wrought out for you, 
is the sanctification of your heart and life, so that if you 
indulge in sin or be careless in duty, you are doing 
what you can to counteract and frustrate the great pur- 
pose which in his mercy he offers to accomplish upon 
your spiritual and eternal condition. And, then, you 
have this most powerful of all motives and considera- 
tions to influence you to activity, and devotedness, and 
perseverance in the path of righteousness, that the same 
grace which has promised and provided salvation, will 
be imparted in adequate and abundant supply, to purify 
your hearts, to regulate your conduct, to fortify you 
against temptation, and to enable you to perfect holiness 
in the fear of God. Be resolved, then, not only to be 
holy, but to be holy in all manner of conversation — to 



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77 



consecrate yourselves to the service of Him who has 
loved you — to walk closely, and constantly, and obe- 
diently with God — and to live in this manner, to " the 
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made 
you accepted in the Beloved." And let your resolu- 
tion to act thus, as those who have "tasted that the 
Lord is gracious," be strengthened and confirmed by 
the death of Christ. For, while Christ died to fulfil 
the purpose of Cod's mercy respecting your salvation, 
you have in this fact, a proof solemn and affecting, at 
once of the greatness of that mercy, of the exceeding 
sinfulness of sin, and of the necessity of personal purity, 
so that you cannot rightly meditate on the death of 
Christ without feeling that your obligations to be holy, 
are powerful and constraining. Bear these then 
upon your minds : strive to fulfil them faithfully and 
fully. And in every part of your future conduct, show 
that you are not only admirers but partakers of the 
grace of Cod, that to his grace you sincerely ascribe all 
the honors of your salvation, and that, depending upon 
the grace by which ye are saved, for strength as well 
as for righteousness, you will study to obey God, by 
being conformed to the image of Christ, " in whom ye 
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of 
sins, according to the riches of his grace." 

A single word to those who reject the salvation of 
the gospel, and despise the free grace by which it is 
provided. Remember that though the grace of God 
has had its perfect work, his justice is still entire to 
punish those who rebel, and persist in their rebellion. 
And to trample and set at nought his grace must tend 
only to aggravate the offence by which his justice is 
already roused, and to increase the punishment w T hlch 
it has already denounced. And though the grace of 
God by which sinners are saved, is exceeding rich, 
there may be a period, though unknown to us, beyond 
which it will not extend ; and if you are obstinately 
withstanding its kind and melting invitations, it may- 
cease to wait for you, and at length abandon you to 



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SER. 1. 



hopeless and final impenitence. O then, be persuaded 
to surrender yourselves to its saving power, and to give 
yourselves to the God by whom it is manifested ! " Turn 
ye, turn ye, for why will ye die." 

There are some of you, I fear, w T hose limbs are 
trembling, or whose heads are hoary with age, and to 
whom one pastor after another has addressed the mes- 
sage of salvation by free grace, but to whom that mes- 
sage has been addressed in vain, and who are continu- 
ing to live as if there w 7 ere no justice to punish you for 
your guilt, or as if there were no grace to redeem you 
from it. Once more I bring this message to you, and 
beseech you to listen to it, before your feet stumble on 
the dark mountains, and death approaches to put his 
seal upon your everlasting fate. Long have you been 
wandering away from God, mocking at his judgments, 
and despising the compassionate counsels which he has 
given you in his w T ord and sent you by his servants. 
And if you persist in this thoughtless and stouthearted 
course, you may never again hear a warning to flee 
from the wrath to come, and it is but a short and pass- 
ing hour when you must go into that place where God 
has forgotten to be gracious, and where his mercy is 
clean gone forever. But, if you will allow yourselves 
to be persuaded, and even at this latest hour, will re- 
pent, and believe, and obey, the gospel, long and ob- 
stinately as you have been fighting against the authority 
of God, and resisting the calls of his pity, I am war- 
ranted to assure you of acceptance and salvation, be-, 
cause the blood of atonement, on which he beseeches 
you to rely, cleanses from all sin, and his mercy reaches 
far enough to embrace even the chief of sinners. O 
then be reconciled to him by the death of his Son. 
Cast yourselves upon his unmerited, but never-failing 
love. Lay hold of salvation as his free gift. And let 
his redeeming grace be your confidence and your re- 
joicing and your hope during the short evening of your 
pilgrimage, that it may bear you comfortably through 
the agonies of your departure, and carry you away as 



SER. 1. 



SALTATION BY GRACE. 



79 



trophies of its riches and its power, to the glories of a 
better world. 

And if you are young and healthful, yet count not 
upon the years and the opportunities of a lengthened life. 
At whatever time you are saved, it must be by grace. 
And if the grace of God is now bringing you salvation, 
and offering it to you, and pressing it upon you, why 
will you delay accepting of this salvation, as if it were 
not at this moment as valuable and as necessary as it 
ever can be at any future period ? The longer you 
defer embracing it, the more hardened will you become 
against the influences of that grace which confers and 
applies it, and the more difficult will it be to prevail 
upon your hearts to renounce the sins which now pre- 
vent you from receiving it, and to acquiesce in the 
method by which alone you can become the happy 
partakers of it. And then what security have you that 
you will be spared till that chosen hour when, perhaps, 
you are determined that you will seek for its blessings, 
and never desist from the pursuit till they become 
yours? You have, you can have no such security. 
Sickness of body, insanity of mind, sudden and unex- 
pected death may come upon you, and eternally shutout 
the hope of making one effort even of reliance upon 
that grace of God, by which alone you can be saved, 
or of ever again hearing the doctrine which we have 
been urging on your reception. " JVow is the accepted 
time — now is the day of salvation" — listen to the voice 
of God to-day, and harden not your hearts. Let not 
another sun go down upon your impenitence and unbe- 
lief. Be resolved that you will be the Lord's — that 
you will cleave to him as your Saviour, your guide, 
your portion, and your all. And thus surrendering 
yourselves to him in early life, he will make goodness 
and mercy to follow you all your days — at whatever 
hour he calls you away, the arms of his kindness will 
be underneath you and round about you — and as he 
has given you grace here, he will give you glory 
hereafter. 



80 



SALVATION BY GRACE. 



SER. 1. 



Let me beseech you all to think of the privileges you 
enjoy, and of the account you are to render ; and let 
me especially remind you who belong to this parish, of 
the new relation into which you have been lately 
brought, and of the responsibility connected with it. 
No relation can be more important — no responsibility 
can be more awful. My young friend, to whom, as a 
pastor in the church of Christ, your spiritual interests 
have been committed, will deceive and disappoint me 
much, if he do not preach to you faithfully and earnestly 
the sovereign grace of God — the unsearchable riches 
of Christ — the doctrine of salvation by divine mercy 
through faith in a crucified Redeemer — and the neces- 
sity of holiness as produced by the renewing and sanc- 
tifying influences of the Spirit, and as extending to all 
the affections of the heart, and to all the actions of the 
life. I feel confident that he will devote himself to the 
sacred and momentous work which has been given him 
to do — that he will cheerfully spend and be spent in the 
service of his Divine Master — that he will be instant, 
agreeably to the apostle's exhortation, in season and out 
of season — that he will, with all anxiety, administer in- 
struction, and warning, and reproof, and encourage- 
ment, and consolation, according to the various char- 
acters and circumstances of his people — that in all these 
things he will watch for your souls as one that must 
give an account, and as one that loves you for Christ's 
sake and for your own. I trust that, feeling the weight 
of those obligations under which he has come as a min- 
ister of the Son of God, and as your watchman and 
overseer in the Lord, he will make it the business of bis 
life — not an occasional or subordinate work, but his 
grand and paramount object, in which his whole affec- 
tions are engaged, and to which his whole energies are 
consecrated — to awaken perishing sinners from the sleep 
of spiritual death, to comfort them that are mourning in 
Sion, to build up the saints in their most holy faith, and 
to prepare inhabitants for the mansions that are in his 
Father's house above. And I pray that whatever dif- 



SER. 1. 



SALVATION BY GRACE. 



81 



Acuities and trials he may have to encounter in the ar- 
duous office upon which he has entered, he may be 
enabled, through the help that cometh from on high, to 
sustain and to overcome them all ; that whatever he 
may have to suffer from gainsayers, he will not cease to 
love you, and to pray for you, and to labor in your be- 
half ; that " none of these things will move him," and 
that he will not " count even his life dear to him, so 
that he may finish his course with joy, and the ministry 
which he has received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the 
gospel of the grace of God." 

But think not, my friends, that all the duty and all 
the accountability attach to him. If it be his duty to 
preach to you the doctrines of grace and of godliness, 
and to strive for your conversion, and salvation, and 
happiness, it is your duty to receive his doctrines in the 
faith and the obedience of them, to listen to his voice as 
he calls you to glory and to virtue, to become all that 
the gospel, whose message he delivers, is intended to 
make you, and to show in your practical subjection to 
the righteousness and authority of Christ, that you have 
not received the grace of God in vain. And if he must 
give an account of himself and of his stewardship to the 
great Master of that vineyard, in a corner of which he has 
been appointed to work, so must each of you,whether old 
or young, whether rich or poor, whether in one relation 
or in another — every one of you must appear before the 
judgment-seat of Christ, to answer for the spirit and the 
manner in which you have received his servant, for the 
value which you have put upon the redemption that 
your pastor offers you and presses upon you in his Mas- 
ter's name, for the improvement that you have made 
of all the undeserved benefits which, through the min- 
istry of the gospel, have been urged upon your recep- 
tion by all the terrors of the Lord, and by all the com- 
passions of him who died for you. 

And O, will you reject the provision which God's 
grace has made for the life, and the nourishment, and 
the felicity of your never-dying spirits ? Or, will you 



82 



SALVATION BY GRACE. 



SER. 1. 



take no deep-felt interest in the scheme of everlasting 
salvation, which was devised in the eternal counsels of 
the Godhead — which was purchased with a price that 
it mocked the riches of a universe to pay — which 
prophets and apostles, and evangelists and pastors, have 
been ordained to promulgate and administer to a 
guilty world — and which, with a fulness of blessing that 
imagination cannot fathom, comes as a suppliant to 
your very door, and knocks for admittance into your 
very heart ? Or will you banish from your view, or 
will you lightly esteem that period of coming retribu- 
tion, at which God will reckon with each one of you 
for the reception you have given to a preached gospel 
and an offered Saviour — when he who now beseeches 
you by the agonies of his cross to be reconciled, will sit 
upon the throne of righteous judgment to award your 
never-ending doom, and when assembled myriads will 
be looking on to see you taking your place on the right 
hand or on the left hand of the great white throne, and 
listening to the voice which, louder than a thousand thun- 
ders, and irresistible as omnipotence, sends you to 
heaven or to hell ? No, my dear friends, I trust that 
none of you is thus insensible to what so deeply and so 
necessarily concerns you, now and forever. Settle it in 
your minds at this moment ; vow it in your inmost soul; 
let that sun which now looks upon you, as an emblem 
of him who called himself the light of the world, witness 
the engagement which you make ; let the God whose 
eye, brighter than all the luminaries that shine in the 
firmament, penetrates the deepest recesses of thought 
and of purpose, and whose presence encompasses and 
pervades you ; let God be invoked to sanction the cov- 
enant into which you now enter — that you will separate 
yourselves from the world that lieth in wickedness ; that 
you will repair to the foot of that cross on which Christ 
expiated the guilt of his people ; that there you will 
surrender your souls and your bodies to the redeeming 
power and to the sanctifying grace of Jehovah ; that 
you will honor those whom he sends to leave his mes- 



SER. 1. 



SALVATION BY GRACE. 



83 



sage and plead his cause with you ; and that, with 
grateful and rejoicing hearts, you will walk in the way 
that he points out as the way that leads to life and im- 
mortality. And when inward corruption, or an ensnar- 
ing world, or spiritual enemies, interfere to weaken your 
faith and seduce you into sin, think of your obligations 
—think of the grace by which alone you can be 
saved — think of the wounds by which Jesus takes away 
your transgressions — think of the love of that Holy 
Spirit whom your backsliding will grieve — think of the 
sorrows of those who, desiring you to be their crown of 
joy and rejoicing, must mourn and weep when they see 
your falling away — think of the endless ages that lie 
before you ; and let all these considerations put their 
interdict upon every unbelieving thought — upon every 
unholy desire — upon every forbidden gratification ; and 
determine you, under God, to remain steadfast in the 
faith of the gospel, and inflexible in your adherence to 
that Saviour, who encourages you to steadfastness and 
perseverance by this high promise, "Unto him that 
overcometh will I grant to sit with me upon my throne, 
even as I also overcame and am set down with my 
Father upon his throne." 



SERMON II.* 



HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. 



ROMANS v. 7, 8. 

" For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet 
per adventure for a good man some would even dare 
to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in 
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for ws." 

God's love to men, in its various relations, and in its 
various expressions, is the great and prevalent theme 
of the gospel. The gospel, indeed, is altogether a 
manifestation of that love, not only in the plan which it 
unfolds, but throughout all the language of its record. 
It is not only asserted that God loves us, but one prin- 
cipal object of whatever the sacred writers have been 
prompted to say, appears to be that of magnifying the 
divine attribute, and enhancing the estimation in which 
it should be held by those who are the objects of its 
exercise. And they do so, by employing simple but 
emphatic declarations — by indulging in bold and strik- 
ing figures — and by having recourse to interesting, 
familiar, and impressive analogies. 

Of this latter mode of showing forth the greatness of 
God's love, we have an excellent example in the words 



* Preached at the celebration of the Lord's Supper, in St. George's 
Church, Edinburgh, 10th May, 1829. 



SER. 2. HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. 85 



of my text. The apostle draws his illustration from 
what occurs among men — from their sentiments and 
behavior towards those of their own species, whom they 
are led to succor or befriend. In the practical regards, 
which they exhibit for one another in circumstances of 
danger, or in times of need, we may sometimes be 
called to witness an extraordinary display of generosity 
and disinterestedness. But the most surprising instance 
of it, which has actually happened, or which can even 
be expected or imagined to happen, comes far — comes 
infinitely — behind that love to our race which God has 
revealed in the scheme of human redemption. On com- 
parison, not only does the latter infinitely surpass the 
former in degree, but it possesses a richness, and it flows 
in a direction, and it. engages in enterprises, and it de- 
lights in doings, which constitute a perfect contrast be- 
tween the one and the other, and represent the love of 
God to man as belonging to a higher order of affections, 
than the love of man to his fellow, even in its purest and 
loftiest achievements. 

Let us give our attention for a little to this important 
subject, by considering the two branches separately, 
into which it here divides itself, and the relation which 
they bear to the apostle's object in bringing them under 
our view. 

I. First, there is the love of man to his fellow-crea- 
tures. " For scarcely for a righteous man will one die ; 
yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare 
to die." 

In the annals of the world, you may find instances 
of generosity and of gratitude, in which these sentiments 
were manifested by the greatest of all personal sacrifices 
— the sacrifice of life. But such instances are rare, — 
so rare, that the apostle himself does not seem to have 
been aware of one which he could specify as authentic 
and appropriate ; for he speaks here, not as if he had a 
matter of real and known fact in his eye, but only as 
if he were admitting an hypothesis, an event within the 
bounds of possibility or of likelihood. And, with all your 



86 HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. SER. 2. 



knowledge of history, even since the introduction of 
Christianity has engendered the spirit, and given larger 
room for the exploits, of a nobler philanthropy, there 
are but few among you, perhaps, who can produce a 
single example of the benevolent heroism to which we 
allude. You may have read or heard of frightful dan- 
gers being encountered, poignant sufferings being en- 
dured, and extraordinary alienations of wealth or power 
being submitted to, for the purpose of rescuing others 
from threatened and inevitable destruction. There may 
be cases of this kind, amounting to the romantic and the 
splendid, which cannot be contemplated without admi- 
ration, and which redeem our species, in some measure, 
from the stigma of that selfishness which is generally 
imputed to it, and by which it is too truly character- 
ized. But seldom has it been known, that any one has 
deliberately devoted himself to death, in order to de- 
liver his fellow-mortal even from the heaviest calamity, 
or to procure for him even the most precious privilege. 
And among the few solitary cases of this kind, with 
which the course of ages has furnished us, it may not 
perhaps be difficult to discover, that the deed which has 
been ascribed to generous and high-wrought feeling, 
might be justly, and in a great degree at least, traced 
to the workings of self-love, or to a desire for posthu- 
mous fame, or to some other motive which detracts 
from the worth and purity of the affection that was sup- 
posed to be chiefly operative. 

Granting, however, that instances could be adduced 
free from all such imperfection and alloy, it remains 
true, that wherever the elevated spirit in question has 
displayed itself, it has been uniformly a tribute paid to 
distinguished and commanding excellence, or in ac- 
knowledgment of obligations too strong and too sacred 
to be satisfactorily fulfilled by a less noble or a less 
costly recompense. It has been dictated by an en- 
thusiastic and worshipping delight in pre-eminent vir- 
tue, or called forth by such experience of undeserved, 
and unexpected, and unmeasured kindness, as over- 



SER. 2. HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. 87 



powers every consideration of ease and safety, and can 
be contented with nothing short of the highest and most 
unbounded expressions of reciprocal attachment. And, 
if we seek for it animating a single bosom, or giving 
birth to a single effort, where it had nothing to awaken 
it, or nothing to work upon but moral corruption, base 
ingratitude, bitter hostility, total and inveterate worth- 
lessness — we shall seek for it in vain, for we shall seek 
for that, to which there is no adequate cause — no coun- 
terpart in the rational constitution of man — to which his 
judgment and his sensibilities are in thorough opposi- 
tion, and of which, therefore, the whole earth has never 
afforded the slightest proof, or been visited with one 
solitary practical illustration. 

" Scarcely for a righteous man will one die." Sup- 
pose an individual distinguished by the strictest princi- 
ples of honor and integrity ; who had ever abhorred the 
most distant approach to any thing that savored of in- 
justice or oppression ; who had exerted himself on all 
occasions to maintain the rights, and redress the wrongs, 
of others ; and who not only had committed no offence 
against the community, but whose undeviating rectitude, 
whose righteous deportment, whose immovable fidelity, 
whose defence of truth, whose practice of all the sterner 
virtues, arising from the fear of God and the hatred of 
every thing that is mean or base, had distinguished him 
above his every associate and fellow-citizen, and ren- 
dered him the object of profound and universal vener- 
ation ; suppose that such a person had long filled your 
eye and commanded your respect, and that by the de- 
cree of iniquity or of despotism, he were doomed to 
expiate an imaginary crime on an ignominious scaffold 
— which of you would step forward to ward off his fate, 
and to save his life by the sacrifice of your own ? Is 
there one in the whole range of your personal acquaint- 
ance, or is there one of all the multitude that books and 
fame have brought within the sphere of your know r ledo;e, 
whom you could confidently expect to pay such a dif- 
ficult and an expensive homage to moral greatness in 



88 HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. SER. 2. 



the form of fallen humanity? Or, from what you feel 
in your own minds, and from what you know of that 
nature which you have in common with the whole pos- 
terity of Adam, could you anticipate that any man, with 
all the passionate devotedness he might be conceived to 
possess to whatsoever things are true, and virtuous, and 
venerable, could so far overcome his inborn repugnance 
to the suffering of death, as that he would willingly 
submit to it, even in its mildest shape, in order to pur- 
chase an exemption from the evil for him who had been 
thus long and deservedly the object of his deepest rev- 
erential regard? No, my friends ; neither experience, 
nor observation, nor any acquaintance you may other- 
wise have with mankind, will justify you in speculating 
on such an instance of love, as coming within the limits 
of probability, or in affirming it as a fact which has at 
any time been exhibited to the world. You can only 
allow it to be possible ; and say with the apostle, that 
" scarcely for a righteous man will one die." 

But, supposing, that to the righteousness of this indi- 
vidual, we were to add the more engaging and attractive 
graces of benevolence ; supposing that he shrunk from 
the very idea of inflicting pain on any of his fellow- 
creatures — that he sympathized with all the children of 
affliction— that he was prompt, and liberal, and un- 
wearied, in relieving distress wherever it was to be 
found — that he was ever ready to help his friends, and 
to forgive his enemies' — that he delighted in scattering 
blessings over all his neighborhood, and diffusing hap- 
piness throughout the whole family of mankind — that 
the poor and the ignorant, the fatherless and the widow, 
the sorrowful and the outcast, found in him a refuge 
from their troubles, and a solace to their hearts — that 
he was distinguished, in short, by all that is melting in 
tenderness, by all that is winning in compassion, by all 
that is god-like in beneficence ; and supposing that his 
goodness had not been able to screen him from the 
tyrant's violence, but had only seemed to hasten his 
fall, and to bring upon him the doom of most unmerited 



SER. 2. HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. 89 



destruction, would there be any among those to whom 
such merciful and generous characters as his are dear- 
est — would there be any, even of those who had shared 
most plentifully in the kindness that he felt, and in the 
bounties that he lavished, and over whose feelings grat- 
itude had acquired the most undivided ascendency, 
that would agree to be his substitute, to receive the 
stroke which was about to fall upon him, and to expire 
amidst shame and torture, in his behalf? Yes; you 
may conceive such cases to occur. There is some- 
thing within us which, though it amounts not to all that 
is requisite for the heroism that is imagined, seems to 
tell us, that by minds of greater ardor and of stronger 
nerve, it is a practicable attainment. And it is believed, 
that even in this world — so barren of sublime morality 
— it has been oftener than once realized. Still, how- 
ever, the apostle speaks correctly when he says, that 
it is only "some" who would thus die for a good man 
— that, even for this act of chivalrous performance, 
there would be required a "daring" of which man's 
breast is seldom conscious — and that after all, the fact 
must be qualified with a "peradventure," as if it were 
still but doubtful, and hardly to be numbered among 
the higher accomplishments of our species, or among 
the nobler capabilities of our nature. 

To the statement of the apostle, we may superadd 
the statement of our Lord himself, that "greater love 
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for 
his friends." This is the utmost limit to which human 
affection can go. No higher or more precious exercise 
of it can be predicated with any degree of certainty and 
truth. The tie of friendship is strong and endearing. 
Those whom it unites have a mutual sympathy and a 
mutual complacency, to which the strongest ordinary 
likings and alliances bear no proper comparison. They 
have a community of attachments and aversions, of joys 
and of sorrows. Their hearts are knit together, as if 
they were one. It is misery for them to be separated in 
life, and greater misery still to be divided by death. 



90 HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. SER. 2. 



And he is happiest who is privileged to offer the larg- 
est sacrifices for the welfare and the safety of the other, 
when opportunity occurs, or when circumstances re- 
quire. Under such impulse, it is not difficult to call 
up cases to our imagination, and it may not be impossi- 
ble to discover cases in history, which hold out one man 
risking or surrendering his life, that he may vindicate the 
honor, or redeem the life, of another. And this may be 
still more readily admitted, if we consider friendship as 
comprehending those relationships of kindred, which, 
binding husband and wife, parent and child, brother and 
sister, by a thousand endearments, render delegated 
suffering a pleasure, as well as a duty, and instinctively 
prompt to efforts and endurances, from whose ample range 
even the terrors of death are not excluded. 

Now, in all the examples to which we have referred, 
the sacrifice is made in consideration of motives that arise 
from worth exhibited, or benefits conferred, or obliga- 
tions of some kind or other imposed, by them on whose 
account it has been demanded. Scarcely for a "righte- 
ous man" will one die — peradventure for a "good man," 
some will even dare to die — greater love hath no man than 
this, that a man should lay down his life for " his friend." 
But supposing a person destitute of these claims on gen- 
erous feeling — supposing him, on the contrary, to be 
iniquitous, malevolent, and hostile ; supposing him to be 
covered with moral deformity that makes him loathsome, 
and guilty of atrocious crimes committed against the com- 
fort, the reputation, the honor, of one who had lavished 
upon him every token of kind regard, who had treated 
him with the confidence of a friend, with the affection of a 
brother, with the tenderness of a parent — and supposing, 
that for all his demerit, he had been condemned to die 
and under his sentence of condemnation, cherished as 
bitter an enmity, and expressed as determined a ven- 
geance, against his benefactor as he had ever done before 
— would that benefactor, or would any of the children of 
men, consent to occupy his room, and suffer his judicial 
fate, border to send him back again to the life, and the 



SER. 2. HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. 91 



liberty, and the enjoyment, which he had so justly for- 
feited? Ah ! no : that is a height of love, which human- 
ity has never reached, and of which humanity is utterly 
incapable. Philosophy may conjecture it as possible, 
and poetry may give it a place, in her fictitious delinea- 
tions. But we observe not the seeds or elements of it 
in the moral constitution of man. In vain shall we search 
for any exemplification of it in the annals of human phi- 
lanthropy. The scripture represents it as utterly unattain- 
able. And were it ever to occur, we should be com- 
pelled to regard it as a miracle not less striking, than the 
most wonderful of all those wonderful works which 
stamped divinity on the economy of Moses, and on the 
gospel of Christ. 

II. But that which man, in all his love to his brethren 
has never felt, or offered, or accomplished, has been 
realized and manifested in the love which he has experi- 
enced from the holy God. "God commendeth his love 
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ 
died for us. 

The love of God is illustrated by two circumstances 
here specifically stated. First, "Christ died for us;" 
and secondly, and chiefly, he " died for us, while we 
were yet sinners." 

1. "Christ died for us." The apostle could not 
speak of God dying for us, which would have been the 
exact parallel ; for death cannot possibly be predicated 
of him who is eternal, and who "alone hath immortal- 
ity." In the First Epistle of John, indeed, at the third 
chapter, and sixteenth verse, our version reads thus — 
"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid 
down his life for us." But in the original, it is not " the 
love of God," but merely "the love," or "love ;" and, 
therefore, we should rather render the passage in the fol- 
lowing manner : — " Hereby perceive w T e the love of God 
in Christ : or hereby perceive we love — divine love, be- 
cause he, in whom, and, by whom, that love has been 
manifested, died for us." Or, if we take it as it stands 
in our version, we are to consider it as ascribing to God 



92 HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. SEE. 2. 



what strictly and properly can be affirmed only of Christ, 
— of Christ as " God manifest in the flesh," possessing 
the divine and human natures in mysterious union, the 
divine nature imparting a dignity and a value to the hu- 
man nature, and to the sufferings and death that it en- 
dured, which it could not otherwise have had. A sim- 
ilar form of expression is found in the Acts of the 
Apostles, at the 20th chapter and 28th verse, where 
Paul is represented as saying to the elders of Ephesus, 
" Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the 
flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you 
overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath pur- 
chased with his own blood." In the rigid sense of the 
terms it could not be the blood of God ; but it was the 
blood of " Emmanuel," or " God with us," incarnate in 
" the man Christ Jesus." When we speak of the " arm" 
of God, we mean his power : when we speak of his 
" eye," we mean his omniscience ; and when the apostle 
speaks of his " blood," he means the atonement which 
was made for sin by him, who was God and man in one 
person, and whose supreme deity gave to his suffering 
humanity its virtue, for the expiation of human guilt. 

When, therefore, it is said, in the words of our text, 
as a proof of God's love, that " Christ died for us," we 
must remember, exactly and impressively, who Christ 
w T as, as well as what he did. He died for us that he 
might take away our sin, and make reconciliation for 
our iniquity. And we cannot estimate sufficiently the 
pains and the ignominy of that death, to which he sub- 
mitted, as the punishment that was due from holy and 
incensed omnipotence, to a rebellious, degenerate, and 
guilty world. But, in viewing it as a manifestation of 
divine love, it is necessary to recollect the intimate con- 
nexion, which God had with it. The scheme, of which 
it formed the leading feature and the essential principle, 
was altogether of his appointment. 

" He so loved the world, as to give his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, 
but have everlasting life." And in reference to his incar- 



SER. 2. HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. 93 

nate Son becoming a sin-offering for us, he is said to 
have " laid upon him the iniquity of us all," and to have 
" set him forth as a propitiation for our sins through faith 
in his blood.'' And, while God was thus so gracious, as 
to devise a plan, by which our souls might be redeemed 
through the sacrifice of Christ, it becomes us to think of 
the relation in which Christ stood to him. Christ was 
not the creature, nor the mere servant of God, but " his 
Son, his only begotten and well beloved Son, the bright- 
ness of his glory, and the express image of his person." 
Yet, though thus possessed of all the attributes of divin- 
ity, and forming the object of the ineffable complacency 
and love of his Father, God did "not spare him," but 
prepared a body for his inhabitation, sent him to sojourn 
in our evil world, made him " a man of sorrows and ac- 
quainted with grief," and then "freely delivered him up 
to the death for us all." So that, " in this was mani- 
fested the love of God toward us, because that God sent 
his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live 
through him." 

2. But the principal evidence of God's love to us is 
contained in the fact, that Christ died for us, " while we 
were yet sinners." 

Had the nature and character of man been such, as 
that the eye of God could have looked on him with 
complacency — had there existed in him a paramount dis- 
position to keep the divine commandments, and to pro- 
mote the divine glory — had he followed such a course 
of obedience as at once conformed to the will, and re- 
flected the image of him, who is " glorious in holiness 
— or, having, through the power of temptation, fallen 
from his allegiance, had the feelings of penitential regret 
and sorrow pervaded his heart, and made him willing to 
return to the path he had forsaken, and to regain the 
favor he had lost; and, amidst numerous failings and 
transgressions, had there been a resolute striving to ren- 
der any portion of that submission which the great Ruler 
of the universe must ever require from the rational sub- 
jects whom he governs — had these been the circumstan- 



94 HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. SER. 2. 



ces of the case, we should not have been amazed b 
any degree of condescension and of pity which appeare 
in God's administration towards the human race. My 
terious and adorable as the incarnation of his own Son 
and its accompanying course of humiliation, must hav 
been in our esteem, whatever gave rise to such an ac 
of benignity, still we should have observed in the objec 
whom it regarded, the qualities that seemed to merit o 
to justify it, on the ordinary principles of moral rectitud 
and consistency. But the marvel lies in this, that there 
was no good desert — no amiableness of disposition — no 
excellence of conduct — no compunction for offence, and 
no desire of reformation — to attract the regards of a 
holy being, and to invite a willing interposition of his 
benevolence. On the contrary, there was worthlessness, 
there was guilt, there was perversity, and such a degree 
of these odious qualities, as to alienate kind affection — 
to provoke a just indignation — to warrant an utter ex- 
clusion from happiness and from hope. It was this 
barrier which lay between God and bis apostate off- 
spring ; and in surmounting it, he has outstripped all the 
doings, and all the conceptions of man, respecting the 
exercise of compassion between one intelligence and 
another, and caused us to wonder and to worship at the 
extent of that love, which he has embodied in the death 
of Christ for the salvation of sinners. 

We were " yet sinners," when Christ died for us. 
We were not only undeserving of a single token or com- 
munication of good will, but corrupt and vile throughout 
every department of our moral frame, and throughout 
the whole extent of our moral practice. We had in- 
curred the displeasure of " him who is of purer eyes 
than to behold iniquity," and who " hates all the work- 
ers of it with a perfect hatred," and had fully merited the 
penalty with which he had righteously armed and sanc- 
tioned his law. We bad no sincere regret, no genuine 
abasement, no penitential visitings of the soul, to melt 
his indignant eye, to arrest his avenging arm, to stay his 
coming wrath, to bespeak his relentings, and his long 



SER. 3. HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED, 95 



suffering, and his sparing mercy. And having trampled 
on his rich goodness, as well as disobeyed and insulted 
his dread authority, we had thus arrayed against us that 
very attribute on which alone we could have depended, 
and to which alone we could have appealed. So that 
had our own case been presented to us in all its melan- 
choly details and bearings, and had we judged of it by 
the feelings of man to man, and the treatment of man 
by man within the whole range of human consciousness 
and experience, we must have at once concluded, that 
if such an arrangement as the death of Christ for sin- 
ners was necessary for their redemption, the favor of 
God which they had lost by transgression they had lost 
for ever, and that nothing awaited them but punish- 
ment, and misery, and despair. 

But there are resources in the eternal mind, which 
are equally beyond our reach and our comprehension. 
There is a power and a magnitude, and a richness in 
the love of God towards those upon whom it is set, to 
which the love of the creature cannot even approximate, 
of which the imagination of the creature could not have 
formed any previous idea, and which, even to the ex- 
perience of the creature, presents a subject of inscru- 
table mystery — a theme of wondering gratitude and 
praise. Man may love, man should love, man must 
love his fellows ; but he never did, and never can love 
them like God. His is a love that throws man's into 
the distance and the shade. Had he only loved us as 
man loves, there would have been no salvation — no 
heaven — no felicity for us — no glad tidings to cheer our 
hearts ; — no promised land on which to fix our antici- 
pations — no table of commemoration and of communion 
spread for us in the wilderness, to refresh us amidst the 
toils, and the languishings, and the sorrows of our pil- 
grimage thither. His violated law must have taken its 
course ; the vials of his wrath must have been poured 
out; and everlasting, unmitigated ruin must have been 
our portion. But behold ! God is love itself ; and his 
love in all its workings, and in all its influences, and in 



96 HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. SER. 2. 



all its effects, can stoop to no parallel with the best and 
most ardent of human affections. Guilt, which forbids 
and represses man's love, awakens, and kindles, and 
secures God's. Death for the guilty is too wide a gulf 
for man's love to pass over. God's love to the guilty 
is infinitely "stronger than death," and spurns at all 
such limits, and smiles at the agonies and the ignomin- 
ies of a cross, that it may have its perfect work. God, 
in the exercise of his love towards our sinful and mis- 
erable race, is concerned, where man would be un- 
moved, indifferent, and cold. God is full of pity, where 
man would frown with stern and relentless aversion. 
God forgives, where man would condemn and punish. 
God saves, where man would destroy. "While we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Well may we 
ask, " Is this the manner of man, O Lord God ?" And 
well may God answer, " My thoughts are not your 
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways ; for as the 
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways 
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your 
thoughts." And well may we exclaim, " Herein, 
indeed, is love ; not that we loved God — but that he 
loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our 
sins." "O the breadth, and length, and depth, and 
height of the love of God and of Christ ; it passeth 
knowledge !" 

We cannot enter, at present, into a full application 
of the interesting subject, which we have endeavored 
to illustrate. But our time has been occupied to little 
purpose, and we must be very unsusceptible of good 
impressions, if all that we have offered to your atten- 
tion be allowed to pass away as a dreamy or useless 
speculation, and if we do not more or less experience 
its practical influence in our minds, and manifest it in 
our conduct. There is no theme more deeply affecting 
than the love of God, as revealed and set forth in the 
death of Christ for sinners. It embraces all our per- 
manent interests, [t is fitted to exert a happy and im- 
proving power over the whole of our Christian charac- 



SER. 2. HUMAN AND DIVINE LOVE CONTRASTED. 97 

ter. It is fraught with the richest consolation which 
can be needed by us, or administered to us, in our cir- 
cumstances of sinfulness, and danger, and distress. 
And whatever imperfections may attach to our illustra- 
tions of it, the simple fact announced in the text, is 
such as to teach us many useful lessons, and to exert 
upon us many salutary influences, unless we are strongly 
cased in infidelity and impenitence. And O, if even 
our infidelity and impenitence will not melt away at the 
contemplation of God's rich and ineffable love to our 
guilty race, how aggravated must be our condemnation, 
and how utterly hopeless — how impenetrably dark — 
how superlatively wretched, must be all our future 
prospects ! But if the love of God be felt by us in all 
its importance, and in all its power, it will constrain us 
to accept the boon it has provided for us at such a costly 
rate, and to prize the salvation which comes thus 
recommended to us, as of inestimable value. It will 
stir us up to love God in return — to feel for him a love 
which will fill and pervade the heart, which will lead 
us to seek and to take delight in holding spiritual inter- 
course with him, and which will be embodied in our life 
and conversation, determining us to devote ourselves 
cordially and constantly to the service of him who has 
redeemed us in his love and in his pity, that we might 
be to him a holy people. It will encourage us to con- 
fide in God for every blessing that we need, and to 
confide in him even when appearances would indicate 
that he has forgotten us or cast us off ; for the truth con- 
tained in the text is incompatible with any disposition on 
his part to refuse us whatsoever our necessities may re- 
quire. " He that spared not his own Son, but freely 
delivered him up to the death for us all, how shall he 
not with him also freely give us all things ;" and how 
can he ever leave or forsake those whom he thus pur- 
chased at the price of blood, so precious and divine. 
And finally, it will make us embrace every opportunity 
of celebrating its greatness, of proclaiming our sense of 
those obligations under which it has laid us, of exercis- 
9 



98 HUMAN AND DIVJNE LOVE CONTRASTED. SER. 2. 



ing all those sentiments which it naturally inspires, and 
of pledging ourselves to all that conduct which it both 
prescribes and exemplifies. In the good providence of 
God, that opportunity is now before us. Let us cheer- 
fully and gratefully avail ourselves of it. Let us sit 
down at a communion table with hearts overflowing 
with love to Him who first loved us, and who loved us 
in the midst of our unworthiness, and who loved us even 
to the death. Let us exercise a vigorous and a lively 
faith in the merit of that great atonement, which the 
wisdom of God, in furtherance of the love of God, has 
appointed for cancelling our guilt, and establishing our 
peace and hope. Let us be filled with sentiments of 
profound humility and godly sorrow, as we read, in the 
memorials of Christ's death, the evil and the bitterness 
of sin which rendered it necessary, and, to take away 
which, its shame and its agonies were endured. Let 
us abound in joy when we meditate on the fruitful and 
inexhaustible mercy, which we are called to remember 
as we shew forth the Lord's death, and from which we 
are emboldened to draw consolation and encourage- 
ment, and a liberal and constant supply to every neces- 
sity that can possibly occur in our lot. And having 
experienced the love of God in giving Christ to the 
death for us, let us rest upon the promise, that this 
divine Saviour will come again — that he, whom we 
commemorate as having once suffered for our trans- 
gressions, will appear hereafter, and ere long, to give 
us complete and eternal redemption, and that, having 
rescued us from the dishonors of the grave, and clothed 
us with the robe of immortality, and introduced us into 
the incorruptible inheritance of his Father's kingdom, 
he will give us in our everlasting experience to under- 
stand the full meaning, and will tune our hearts for 
pouring forth the rapturous strains of that high anthem, 
"Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins 
in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
unto God even his Father; to him be glory and domin- 
ion forever and ever. Amen." 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION.* 



At the close of the solemn service in which it has 
been your privilege at this time to engage, permit me, 
iny friends, to address to you a few exhortations, suited 
to the circumstances in which you are placed. 

And first, let me observe, that if there be any in this 
assembly who have not only withheld themselves from 
the Lord's table on the present occasion, but are habit- 
ually chargeable with such neglect, they are surely the 
objects of deep commiseration. I speak not of those 
who are kept back by conscientious motives — who 
really desire to engage in the work of solemn com- 
munion, but abstain from it because they are, in their 
own considerate judgment, undeserving of such a high 
privilege. To persons of this description I would feel, 
and exercise, all manner of Christian forbearance and 
kindness. I approve of their delicacy of conscience 
and their humility of spirit. I would, at the same time, 
direct them to cherish more engaging views of their 
Saviour's love ; and not to consider the lowliest convic- 
tions of their own un worthiness as, in any measure, 
inconsistent with the liveliest dependence upon his 
merits. I would encourage them to regard the ordi- 
nance as intended for weak and timid "babes," as much 
as for " perfect men in Christ Jesus." T would hope 
that, by persevering in prayer, and by following on to 
know the Lord, and by setting themselves to acquire 
more correct and scriptural views both of the nature of 
the institution and of the character of its Author, they 
will ere long feel themselves at liberty to observe it 
without any slavish dread of offending God, or of sin- 
ning against their own souls. And I would only caution 

* Addressed to the congregation of St. George's Church, Edinburgh, 
after the celebration of the Lord's Supper, 10th May, 1829. 



100 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 



them against yielding to those groundless and super- 
stitious scruples, that sometimes tempt the believing and 
the good, to shrink from a service in which they are 
called to honor their Redeemer, to partake of the rich- 
est blessings of the gospel, and to advance the interests 
of pure and undented religion in the world. At present, 
however, I allude to those who have no cordial wish to be 
communicants — who do not think of aspiring to the duties 
and the privileges of that character — who allow every 
successive opportunity of going to the Lord's table to 
pass away from them unimproved and unheeded — and 
who continue in this negligence from year to year, 
through indifference, or contempt, or worldly-minded- 
ness, or practical infidelity. It is of these that I now 7 
speak ; and every real Christian will unite with me in 
saying, that they are objects of deep commiseration. 
They are living in obstinate disobedience to the express 
and dying commandment of him, who has " all power 
in heaven and on earth." They are callous to the im- 
pressions of that ineffable love which he manifested in 
dying for their eternal redemption. They reject with 
disdain the mean? which divine wisdom has appointed 
for supporting the life, and promoting the nourishment 
and comfort, of his church. They proclaim their want 
of those principles and dispositions to which the prom- 
ises of glory are annexed, and their hostility to that 
system of grace by which alone they can be delivered 
from the wrath to come. And, if there be any truth 
in Christianity, they are yet in their sins — "without 
God and without hope." ye to whom this melan- 
choly description applies, blame us not when we de- 
clare, that you are the objects of our pity. It is not 
from any sentiment of proud scorn, or' of haughty 
superiority, that we say this. We feel compassion for 
your state, because we see you despising the great sal- 
vation — far from the kingdom of heaven — and walking 
in the broad way that leadeth to destruction. We 
would pray for you — that the Spirit of all grace may 
enlighten your mind, and subdue the perversity of your 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 101 



will, and bring you under subjection to the righteousness 
and the law of Christ. We would beseech you to stop 
short in your career of thoughtlessness and folly — to 
reflect seriously on what is past, and to think solemnly 
of what is to come — and to mind the things which be- 
long to your peace, before they be forever hid from 
your eyes. And we would hold up to view the ordi- 
nance you have been disregarding, as exhibiting, in the 
death and mediation of Christ, the only way by which 
you can return to God, and obtain eternal life ; and as 
denouncing, at the same time, through the sorrows and 
ignominies of the cross, that awful retribution which 
awaits those who reject the salvation of the gospel, and 
will not have Christ to rule over them. 

But we fear that, even to some who have been at 
the Lord's table, we must speak the language of warn- 
ing and rebuke. It is refreshing, indeed, to see such a 
goodly number, as we have seen this day, setting at 
defiance the scorn of unbelieving men, and keeping in 
remembrance the death and the cross of their Redeemer. 
Yet we know that " all are not Israel who are of 
Israel" — that the profession of Christianity and Chris- 
tianity itself are far from being inseparably connected — 
that not every one who says unto Jesus, however pub- 
licly and however solemnly, Lord, Lord," shall enter 
into the kingdom of heaven. I would therefore speak 
to you in the spirit and in the language of a wholesome 
and affectionate jealousy. I would ask you, from what 
motives, and in what manner, you have engaged in the 
work of sacred communion ? Have you done it in mere 
compliance with the wishes of your friends, or from 
mere conformity to the custom of the place? Have 
you done it that you might acquire, or that you might 
support, a good reputation in the world ? Have you 
done it in order to conceal from the eye of suspicion 
and observation some defect or some sin that you wish 
not to be known ? Or have you done it with the un- 
scriptural view of atoning for your past wickedness, and 
laying up a stock of merit for the time to come ? Have 
*9 



102 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 



you made no preparation for the solemnity in which you 
have been engaged ? Have you entered into no pre- 
vious examination of your heart, and your character, 
and your spiritual state ? Have you come to the Lord's 
table with thoughtlessness and indifference ? Have you 
sat down in ignorance of the nature and purposes of the 
institution ? Have you shewed forth the death of Christ 
without any lively faith in his merits — without any cor- 
dial hatred of sin, which caused his sufferings — without 
any decided resolution to forsake the iniquities from 
which they were endured to redeem you — without any 
conscious love to your God and Saviour — without any 
kind and forgiving affection towards your fellow-men — 
without any purpose of devoting yourselves to the ser- 
vice and glory of him who has done so much for your 
salvation ? Have your imaginations been allowed to 
wander on the mountains of vanity, and your affections 
to settle on the pursuits and pleasures of the world, when 
they should have been raised to the heaven, and 
stretched forward to the immortality, to which the doc- 
trine of a communion-service naturally taught you to 
aspire ? Are these the motives w r hich have influenced 
you, and is this the manner in which you have acted on 
the present occasion ? Then you have not partaken of 
the Lord's Supper in a true and spiritual sense. You 
have been " eating and drinking unworthily." You 
have profaned the body and the blood of Christ. And 
though God may not inflict upon you visible judgments, 
as be did on the Corinthian church, yet, as the God of 
ordinances, and as a jealous God, he will not permit 
you to be thus hypocritical or profane with impunity, 
and he will assuredly punish you for it, except you 
repent. "Repent, therefore, and be converted, that 
this, your great sin, may be blotted out." Apply for 
pardon, through faith in that sacrifice, which you have 
treated with so much levity and contempt. Beseech 
God to cleanse you from every carnal view, and to give 
you all the graces of his Spirit. And be resolved that, 
henceforth, every returning communion, which you 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 103 



may be permitted to see, shall find you ready to partake 
of it with clean hands, and pure hearts, and earnest de- 
sires to be " found of God in peace, without spot and 
blameless." 

On the other hand, does your conscience tell you 
that your motives have been good — that you have come 
to the Lord's table from regard to the commandment of 
Christ — from gratitude and love to him as your Re- 
deemer — from a desire to promote the honor of his 
name and the interests of his gospel — and from a be- 
coming wish to advance your own spiritual comfort and 
improvement ? Did you examine yourselves as to your 
fitness for the communion service? and did you find 
that you were possessed, in some good measure, of 
those qualifications which the nature of the ordinance 
and the word of God prescribe? And when engaged 
in the work of commemoration, were your hearts 
affected by a sense of its importance and solemnity ? 
Did you hold communion with the Father, and fellow- 
ship with his Son Jesus Christ ? Were you in the ex- 
ercise of lively faith — of pious affection — of brotherly 
love — of holy desires and resolutions? And was it 
your earnest prayer, and your earnest endeavor, that 
you might glorify him whom you were remembering, 
and that the homage and devotion of your souls might 
be accepted, and that you might give yourselves away 
to God in a covenant never to be broken, and never 
to be forgotten ? 

I do not ask you, my friends, if, in all those respects, 
you have done nothing amiss — if you can say that your 
way has been perfect — if you can look back, with un- 
alloyed complacency and satisfaction, upon every part 
of your conduct and experience as communicants? No, 
my friends ; the best of us must be conscious that im- 
perfection and sin have tarnished the purity of our 
offering. And we all need to humble ourselves before 
the holy God whom we have been serving, and to apply 
for the pardoning efficacy and the sanctifying influences 
of the blood of Christ. And, may " the good Lord 



104 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 



pardon every one who has prepared his heart to seek 
God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he has not 
been cleansed according to the preparation of the sanc- 
tuary." But have you been sincere in your desires to 
" do this in remembrance of Christ ? ' Have you been 
really anxious to " keep the feast with the unleavened 
bread of sincerity and truth ?" Have you set yourselves 
to act from suitable motives, and in a becoming man- 
ner ? And are you conscious that, with regard to the 
particulars I have mentioned, you were qualified, in 
some good measure, to partake of the ordinance, and 
that, in some good measure, your participation of it has 
come up to the standard of Christian feeling and of 
Christian attainment? Then, be grateful to God who 
has not only admitted you to the privilege of holy com- 
munion, but has enabled you cheerfully to embrace, 
and rightly to enjoy it. Be grateful, that instead of 
keeping away, like many others, under the influence 
of mistaken views, or of dislike to spiritual exercises, he 
has put it into your hearts to give this public testimony 
to the truth, and the power, and the excellence of the 
gospel. Be grateful that amidst the trials and the sor- 
rows of life, you have been allowed to draw, from a be- 
lieving contemplation of the memorials of your Re- 
deemer's death, that support and consolation which it is 
so well calculated to afford. Be grateful that, through 
the grace given you, you have been strengthened to 
discharge an important duty, and encouraged to employ 
an instituted means of edification ; and that in the fidel- 
ity with which you have acted, and in the comfort 
which you have experienced, you have a gratifying 
token of your present acceptance with God, and of your 
future progress in the divine life. 

But do not rest satisfied with mere emotions, or with 
the mere expressions of thanksgiving. You must show 
your gratitude in your conduct ; and maintain a life and 
conversation suitable to the profession you have made, 
and the privileges you have enjoyed. It is not ordinary 
decency of behavior nor ordinary acquirements in 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 105 



religion that will answer the purpose. The obligations 
laid upon you by your appearance at the Lord's table, 
dictate a deportment distinguished by its purity, and its 
excellence. And, if you obey them in any tolerable 
degree, we shall see you adorned with all the graces 
and virtues of Christianity, abounding in godliness and 
good works, and advancing with steady and progressive 
steps in the path of righteousness. After having seen 
such a lively representation of the evil of sin, will not 
sin be more than ever the object of your aversion, and 
will not you more than ever strive to keep yourselves 
from its pollutions ? After having admired the greatness 
of your Saviour's compassion in giving his life a ransom 
for your souls, will not you feel yourselves peculiarly 
-and powerfully constrained to glorify him in your bodies 
and in your spirits which are his ; and will not you 
think every act of obedience which you can render, but 
an inadequate return for that wondrous love which 
made him die for you upon the cross ? After perceiv- 
ing that it was one great purpose of those sufferings of 
his, which you have been commemorating, to deliver 
you from iniquity, and to call you to holiness, will not 
you cheerfully surrender yourselves to the design which 
they had in view, by denying all ungodliness and worldly 
lusts, and by living soberly, righteously, and godly, in 
the world ? After having professed, with so much so- 
lemnity, that you are his disciples, will not you be care- 
ful to justify this profession, by devotedness to him in 
every department of his gospel— by steadily adhering 
to his doctrine — by confessing him openly before men 
— by relying without disguise on the merits of his cross 
— by a conscientious submission to his will — and by a 
faithful imitation of his example ? And after having 
declared that you are expectants of heaven, and that 
you look, with hope and joy, for the second coming of 
your Lord, will not you be anxious to cultivate the 
character which such anticipations demand, by rising 
superior to the pleasures and allurements of this present 
evil world, by renouncing all the pursuits which are in- 



106 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 



consistent with your eternal prospects, and by acquiring 
and cherishing these holy habits, both of mind and con- 
duct, which are requisite to fit you lor the bliss of im- 
mortality ? O my friends, yon can never be too scru- 
pulous in abstaining from sinful indulgence ; you can 
never be too diligent in the performance of duty f you 
can never be too much devoted to that work, which 
consists in obedience to the law of God, and in prepar- 
ation for the glories of his presence. Be persuaded, 
then, to £;ive yourselves wholly to these tilings. Re- 
duce your principles uniformly into practice. And sbew 
that you have boon with Jesus, by your unreserved con- 
form it v to his will, and by carrying your Christian prin- 
ciples into all the various scenes, and circumstances, 
and relations, of life. This is necessary for your own 
personal welfare ; and it is also necessary for promoting 
die interests of pure and undefiled religion among your 
fellow-men. Your character is not complete, it is rad- 
ically defective, unless you be " holy in all manner of 
conversation." And, if you are seen forgetting your 
communion vows, and violating the precepts of the gos- 
pel, and conforming to the practices and the maxims of 
ungodly men, you not only expose yourselves to just 
derision and contempt, but you bring dishonor on the 
cross of Christ : you prove a stumbling-block to the 
young and the wavering : you mislead many by your 
example, whom your instructions can never reach : and 
you tempt 4; them that are without" to " blaspheme that 
holy name by which you have been called." And, if 
your conduct be thus wanting in itself, and thus per- 
nicious in its effects, O how will you answer for it, on 
the great day of the Lord ! Let me conjure you, then, 
to " walk worthy of the vocation wherewith vou are 
called." Let it be the object of your constant ambition, 
and let it be the subject of your daily prayer, that you 
may be kept from the paths of iniquity, that you may- 
set God continually before you, and that vou may " stand 
perfect and complete in all" his holy will*." 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 107 



And let me especially press this exhortation upon 
those who have for the first time presented themselves 
before the Lord at a communion table. I congratulate 
you, my young friends, on your taking this step, so im- 
portant to yourselves, and so interesting to all who love 
your souls. I am glad that you have thus openly en- 
listed under the banner of the cross — that you have re- 
nounced, in this public manner, the devil, the world, 
and the flesh — that you have been seen taking up the 
pilgrim's staff, and setting your faces Zion-ward. And 
I trust that you have done all this in the sincerity of 
your hearts — that you are not acting an inconsiderate 
or a hypocritical part — that the " good confession which 
you have witnessed before many witnesses" has come 
from an approving mind — and that you are indeed de- 
sirous and determined to be all that your outward ser- 
vice has promised. It remains for you to vindicate 
your own sincerity, and to maintain your own consist- 
ency, by the tenor of your future deportment. Never 
forget, then, the engagements which you have so 
solemnly contracted, but study to fulfil them with the 
utmost fidelity and care. Be not " of them who draw 
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the 
saving of the soul." The evil propensities of your own 
wayward hearts — the allurements and vanities of a 
thoughtless, corrupted world — the sinful insinuations and 
wicked example of unchristian people — and the arts 
and influence of your spiritual enemies, who operate 
upon your minds, though unseen — all these will attempt 
to draw you away from the allegiance you have sworn, 
and from the resolutions you have formed. But in the 
strength of God you must resist them all ; and, what- 
ever sacrifices it may cost you, and with whatever dif- 
ficulties it may be attended, you must keep your confi- 
dence in Jesus steadfast unto the end — you must hold 
fast your integrity, and never let it go — you must per- 
severe, with unshaken constancy, in the path of duty 
and obedience. Recollect, at every step you take in 
life, that you are not your own — that you have given 



108 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 



yourselves up to God — and that you are bound by the 
strongest and most endearing ties, to " glorify him in 
your bodies and spirits, which are his." Read his 
blessed word, that you may grow in saving knowledge. 
« Remember his sabbaths to keep them holy." Never 
" forsake the assembling of yourselves together" in his 
sacred courts. Pray to him " with all prayer and sup- 
plication in the spirit." Avoid the company of such as 
trample on his authority and despise his ordinances ; 
and associate with those who fear his name and keep 
his commandments. When the allurements of the world 
solicit your affections or your conformity, cast a believ- 
ing recollection back upon the cross of Christ, and an 
eye of hope forward to the joys of heaven, and scorn 
the pleasures which would frustrate the purposes of your 
Saviour's death, or darken your anticipations of future 
glory. And when any peculiar temptation occurs, or 
when the impetuosity of youthful passion begins to break 
forth, or when the ridicule of unbelieving or ungodly 
men is threatening to conquer your holy purposes, then 
lift up your soul to the God of all grace, and cry for the 
help of his almighty arm : call to remembrance the 
vows and resolutions, the faith and the comforts, of a 
communion table ; and forget not that death is fast ap- 
proaching, and may come when you are not aware, to 
deliver you from the trials which now distress you, and 
to conduct you to that land of uprightness and of rest, 
where no sin is committed and where no sorrow is felt, 
and where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for 
evermore. ~ 

Yes, my friends, death is approaching to all of us. 
And it becomes all of us to watch and to be ready. 
Before another communion arrive, some of us, it is 
probable, shall have bidden an everlasting adieu to this 
land of ordinances and of probation. Which of us it is 
to whom the summons shall be sent, we cannot tell. 
It may be the youngest, and the stoutest, and the most 
thoughtless, of us all. O then, how deeply should our 
minds be impressed with the shortness and uncertainty 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 109 

of time ; and with what diligence should we apply our- 
selves to the work that is given us to do ! Let none of 
us be idle or unconcerned. Let none of us delay or 
trifle with preparation for eternity. Let none of us be 
so foolish as to put our immortal interests to the hazard 
of an unexpected call. Rather let us be active, and 
faithful, and unremitting, in the service of him to whom 
we are to render an account. And when we leave the 
house and table of the Lord, let our first step be the be- 
ginning of a more holy and heavenly course than that 
which we have hitherto pursued ; so that, living always 
by faith in the Son of God, and abounding always in 
the duties of our Christian vocation, at whatever day or 
at whatever hour our Master call us away, we may re- 
ceive from him this gladdening sentence, " Well done, 
good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of 
your Lord." 



10 



SERMON III-* 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 

PSALM Ixxxix. 15. 

" Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound." 

The joyful sound here mentioned primarily refers to 
the blowing of the silver trumpets, on certain festivals, 
by the sons of Aaron — an institution which God ap- 
pointed for the purpose of reminding the Israelites of 
their being under the continued care and protection of 
him, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, 
and out of the house of bondage. Considering the 
hardships, and dangers, and sufferings they had to en- 
counter in the wilderness, this ceremony was calculated 
to give them consolation and encouragement during 
their pilgrimage towards the promised land. And even, 
after they were fully established in the privileges for 
which they were destined in the counsels of Heaven, it 
had the effect of reviving and strengthening the impres- 
sion, that they were safe under the guardianship of that 
Being who had originally delivered them, by whom they 
had been hitherto guided and defended, and whose 
promise of unfailing regard was as faithful, as his mercy 
was abundant, and his power omnipotent. 



* Preached in St. George's Church, Edinburgh, on the evening of Sab- 
bath ; 16th May, 1830, for the Edinburgh Continental Society. 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



Ill 



The Mosaic economy is at an end : its peculiar cer- 
emonies are abrogated : of its symbols of a present and 
superintending Divinity, not one is left ; and the sound 
of the silver trumpets is heard no more. But as an- 
cient Israel is commonly accounted and held out in 
Scripture as typical of true believers under the new 
dispensation, so particular appointments in the former 
may, without any violation of propriety, and with man- 
ifest advantage as to instruction and illustration, be con- 
sidered as representing those features in the latter with 
which they are found to correspond. And, when we 
think of what the gospel is, and of the circumstances in 
which it finds us, and of the benefits which we derive 
from it, we are not putting a forced interpretation upon 
our text, when we take the "joyful sound" to mean the 
message of the gospel, and the declaration of the 
Psalmist to refer to the happiness of all those by whom 
that message is known, according to its own import and 
purpose, and according to the will and intention of its 
gracious Author. 

It is in this view that we propose to make the de- 
claration contained in these words, "Blessed is the 
people that know the joyful sound," the subject of our 
remarks and meditations. 

We need not occupy your time at present in shewing 
that blessedness is essentially connected with the gospel. 
The gospel is intended to make us blessed, because He, 
in whose will it has originated, is full of compassion, and 
announces that here his compassion has had its richest 
and most determinate exercise. It is fitted to make us 
blessed ; for the same God, whose compassion prompt- 
ed it, has also contrived all its arrangements and oper- 
ations, and the infinite wisdom which belongs to him 
must have so adapted the means to the end, as effectu- 
ally to secure whatsoever it designs. It is sure to make 
us blessed ; its machinery being moved, and its effects 
being produced, by the power to which all opposition is 
feeble, and before which all difficulties vanish away. And 
it is known to make us blessed ; for we have only to ap- 



112 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



peal to the experience of the church in every successive 
age and in every variety of its features, in proof of the fact, 
that the gospel has done for its disciples what nothing 
else has been able to accomplish — has put a joy into 
their hearts, and shed a brightness over their prospects, 
beyond all that worldly minds have experienced or con- 
ceived. And, with respect to such of you now hearing 
me, as have been made glad by deliverance from the 
evils and the fears of sin, and by restoration to divine 
favor and to heavenly hope, were I to ask you, to what 
source you trace all this happiness, there is not one of 
you who would not instantaneously lay his hand upon 
the gospel, and say, " It is this, and this alone, which 
has made me what I am — which has converted my 
troubles into peace, and, in the midst of all my calami- 
ties, has taught me to rejoice with a joy that is unspeak- 
able and full of glory." 

But let us consider what is implied in " knowing the 
sound" or message of the gospel, as connected with the 
blessedness which it imparts. The discussion may be 
salutary both to those who enjoy that blessedness, and 
to those who are still strangers to it. And may the 
Spirit of all grace render it effectual for edification and 
for comfort ! 

1. In the first place, to know the joyful sound implies 
that the gospel is communicated to us. 

When we say that the gospel must be communicated 
to those whom it renders blessed, we state a proposi- 
tion which stands opposed to the opinions of many. 
These persons do not pretend to think the gospel use- 
less — but still they do not think the knowledge of it 
absolutely necessary. This knowledge of it they admit 
to be beneficial in several respects — but they do not 
admit it to be essential to salvation. So far otherwise, 
that they deem those from whom it has been withheld, 
as safe in their eternal interests as those are to whom it 
has been conveyed. 

Such doctrine we hold to be altogether erroneous. 
The gospel proposes to redeem sinners from the burden 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



113 



of certain evils, and to restore them to the enjoyment 
of certain blessings. And it is represented as the only 
method by which it has pleased God that these ends 
should be accomplished. At least, we do not learn 
from revelation, nor is it taught , any where else, that 
there is another method, possessed of divine authority, 
or of sufficient virtue for working out the same great 
and important purposes. It follows, accordingly, that 
if we would obtain the deliverance and the happiness 
which are designed for us by the gospel, we are shut up 
to that system, and must not assume the privilege of 
looking beyond its confines. Every thing which over- 
leaps its bounds, or supersedes its provisions, is fancy, 
speculation, presumption, impiety. Not only is the 
gospel able to save us, but, according to the divine de- 
cree, the gospel alone can save us. 

Now, what is the gospel as the scheme of human sal- 
vation ? It is not an absolute and unconditional arrange- 
ment for taking away men's guilt, and reinstating them 
in their original privileges, without any relation to what 
they are or to what they do upon earth, and limited 
wholly to their judicial condition in the sight of God, 
and to their ultimate admission into heaven. Were that 
the case, a written communication on the subject would 
have been unnecessary ; or, a large proportion of the 
written communication actually given might have been 
spared. When we look into its pages, we do not find 
it stated, or insinuated, or even allowed to be inferred, 
that the gospel is nothing to us or to our fellow-men, 
except in so far as it contains the fact that divine mercy 
has interposed in behalf of our apostate race, and 
effected for them a redemption which leaves us no rea- 
son to doubt of their ultimate felicity. There is no 
countenance given in any one part of its record to such 
an idea. On the contrary, it every where proceeds on 
the supposition, that the fact must be announced to 
those whom it concerns, in order that it may become 
practically available for their well-being. And why is 
this annunciation requisite ? Because the plan of saving 
*10 



114 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



mercy which it unfolds, clearly embraces the character, 
as well as the condition, of the sinner : it implies — it 
establishes — it intimates a connexion between the two ; 
and this connexion is so close, and of such a nature, that 
the condition of the sinner cannot become what his 
safety requires it to be, unless the character of the sin- 
ner is made to undergo a corresponding change. And 
this change cannot take place without the concurrence 
of his will, and that movement among all the affections 
and principles of his moral frame which pre-supposes 
him to be acquainted with what the gospel demands of 
him, as well as with what the gospel has effected for him. 
For indeed, it is " the word of the truth of the gospel," 
which, according to the divine appointment, is to be the 
instrument of bis conversion and his sanctification ; and 
it is inconceivable how the word should have any influ- 
ence either on his understanding or on his heart, unless 
it be first submitted to his attention, and brought within 
the sphere of bis observation. It is the divinely insti- 
tuted means of renewing and purifying the sinner, of 
giving him that interest in the merit of the Saviour as 
the object of belief, without which there is no pardon 
for him here, and of producing in him that spiritual 
renovation, without which there is no heaven for him 
hereafter. And to say that without the use of those 
means, these ends may yet be attained, is to say that 
God will set aside the plan which he has not only de- 
vised, but even proclaimed to those for whose guidance 
it is intended, and by a miraculous operation more 
wonderful than any which he has ever used, will con- 
tradict and nullify that method of redemption which he 
employed numberless miracles to constitute, to reveal, 
and to attest for the benefit of mankind. 
^ On this single and obvious ground, then, it is impos- 
sible for those to whom the gospel is unknown, to be- 
come partakers of the specific salvation which the gos- 
pel provides and promises. This salvation can become 
the portion of such only as have the faith and the purity 
which the gospel prescribes ; the faith which unites us 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



115 



to Christ, who is the only source of spiritual blessings ; 
and the purity which, while it is itself one of these 
blessings, is essential to our fruition of the greatest of 
them, — eternal life. And as no man can exercise a 
faith, and cultivate a purity, of whose object and obli- 
gations, and extent he is entirely ignorant, so his igno- 
rance of the gospel, in which alone these things are 
made known, must clearly debar him from all share in 
the benefits of that salvation, which either involves, or is 
exclusively annexed to, the faith, and the purity that are 
enjoined. 

The heavenly Canaan has been purchased for sinful 
men ; but they cannot reach it under all circumstances 
and by all ways. There is a certain path which leads 
to it. If they do not walk in that path, it must ever 
remain to them a strange and foreign land. And how 
can they walk in that path, unless they receive direc- 
tion from him, whose province it is at once to assure 
them of its reality, and to guide thern to its blessedness ? 
And, as the Israelites, if the sound of the silver trum- 
pets had not reached their ears, could not possibly have 
profited by that ordinance — so the gospel cannot prove 
either the means of salvation, or a source of joy, to any 
of the children of men to whom its message is not sent, 
or upon whom its light has not arisen. Hence it is that 
we read of men " perishing for lack of knowledge," — 
a fact which could have no occurrence in the history 
of the world, and no place in the book of God, if the 
notion were true against which I am contending. And 
hence, when the apostle Paul says, that "whosoever 
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," 
he adds, " How shall they call upon him in whom they 
have not believed ? and how shall they believe in him 
of whom they have not heard ?" — an addition to the 
apostle's declaration which could have no meaning, if 
men might be saved who had never heard, and there- 
fore never believed. And hence the peremptory com- 
mand of our Saviour to his disciples, to "go and preach 
the gospel to every creature — christianizing all nations 



116 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



and teaching all nations," — a command which was quite 
superfluous, if the grand object of Christ's mission could 
have been attained, and guilty men made heirs of life 
and immortality, without being taught his religion, and 
without being made his disciples. And hence the ardent 
and devoted zeal with which those whom he ordained to 
the ministry of the gospel executed that high commission ; 
the diligence with which they labored to bring both 
Jews and Gentiles to an acquaintance with the truth ; 
the compassionate earnestness with which they besought 
them to accept the message, and to obey it ; the sacri- 
fices which they cheerfully made, that they might pro- 
mulgate those glad tidings with which their divine Mas- 
ter had entrusted them, — a course of conduct which on 
their part was altogether unaccountable and unneces- 
sary, unless they considered the eternal well-being of 
those for whom they felt and did and suffered so much, 
to be inseparably connected w T ith their possession of the 
gospel message. 

The argument admits of a copious illustration ; but 
we need not pursue it any farther for the purpose of 
being convinced that we cannot be blessed, unless we 
are permitted to hear the sound of the gospel. 

And this view of the subject is far from being unim- 
portant or useless ; for it teaches us to set a higher value 
on the privilege than we could ever imagine to belong 
to it, if we had thought that the gospel could have 
achieved all its saving work upon us, though we had 
never been made aware of its existence till we had ex- 
perienced the fruit of that work in heaven ; and, of 
course, to cling more fondly to it, to feel a deeper 
interest in it, and to cherish more suitable and influen- 
tial sentiments respecting it, than we could possibly 
have done on any other supposition. And, then, while 
it is thus beneficial to ourselves, it leads us, at the same 
time, to take a livelier and more sympathetic concern 
in the spiritual welfare of our brethren — of those among 
ourselves who, though dwelling within the precincts of 
Christendom, have scarcely had their ears saluted with 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



117 



the tidings of salvation — and of the multitudes in hea- 
then lands, whose minds are as blank and uninstrueted, 
on that all-important theme, as if there were no mercy 
in the heavens, or as if no Redeemer had ever come 
into the world. It leads us to take a more serious and 
more active concern in those outcast fellow-creatures, 
who are living in the midst of thick darkness, and dying 
under the burden of unpardoned guilt ; and to put forth 
all our energies, and to improve all our opportunities, 
that there may be conveyed to them that "joyful 
sound," which tells them of the doings of God's pity 
towards his fallen offspring, and of the blessedness which 
he has provided for the lowest, and most desolate, of 
them who will return to him by the way of his 
appointment. 

My Christian friends, let your souls rise in thanks- 
givings to that merciful Father, who has extended to 
you the blessing which, in his unsearchable providence, 
he has denied to myriads beside. Let your gratitude 
grow warmer still, when you meditate on your own un- 
worthiness of such a high distinction — such an invalua- 
ble token of God's sovereign bounty — and muse on the 
utter hopelessness of your condition and of your pros- 
pects, if it had not been graciously vouchsafed to you. 
And then, looking beyond your own personal interests, 
and embracing in your sympathies the wretched victims 
of ignorance and guilt, that people so large a portion of 
our globe, let your prayers ascend in their behalf to the 
Father of mercies, who has been so compassionate to 
you ; and ask for them the gift of that revelation of 
grace in which you have been enabled to rejoice ; and 
be it your resolution and your purpose that you will be 
more zealous, more liberal, more devoted than ever, in 
your endeavors to rescue sinners everywhere from the 
miseries of their apostacy, and to impart to them the 
means and the elements of true blessedness, by sending 
them the gospel, and causing them to hear its "joyful 
sound." 



118 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



2. In the second place, to know the joyful sound, 
implies that we attend to the gospel, and understand it. 

If those are wrong who think that men may be 
blessed to whom the gospel is not made known at all, 
those also are wrong who think that the mere circum- 
stance of this privilege being possessed by them is alto- 
gether sufficient. That there are not a few who de- 
ceive themselves with this idea, is too manifest to be 
doubted. All that they rest upon is the simple fact, 
that God has declared himself to be merciful to sin- 
ners, and has contrived a plan by which he may con- 
sistently extend his mercy to them, and by which he 
has pledged and bound himself to do so. Being sure 
of this, they go no farther in their inquiries ; they have 
recourse to no other ground of satisfaction and security ; 
they give themselves no more anxiety about the mat- 
ter ; and go on to live as if they were now quite safe, 
and must at last be quite happy. 

Unquestionably, however, the blessedness which they 
feel or anticipate, is not the blessedness predicated in 
the text of those who " know the joyful sound and if 
mat sound has put any comfort into their hearts, their 
comfort being without warrant must prove vain and de- 
lusive. For, it cannot be thought that God has devised 
a scheme, and carried it into execution, and given it to 
the world in a written form, and afforded such state- 
ments and illustrations of it as we find in the inspired 
volume, without intending that those for whom it has 
been constructed, and to whom it has been transmitted, 
shall be careful to make themselves conversant not only 
with its general design, but also with its particular im- 
port, and with its various departments, and its various 
bearings His intention is clearly evinced by these 
things, even though there had been no express call 
upon us to take heed to what he has made such sacri- 
fices to accomplish, and has been so kind and conde- 
scending as to communicate. To be content, there- 
fore, with the bare existence of the gospel scheme, and 
to pay no regard to the meaning of the gospel revela- 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



119 



tion, is an act of contempt or ingratitude toward God — 
the slightest indications of whose will are deserving of 
profound attention, and who, in the exercise both of 
grace and authority, has made a full disclosure of what 
he has compassionately done for our guilty race. And 
what sort of blessedness can it be that stands connected 
with conduct so unworthy, and that is derived, as it 
were, from the very dispensation with respect to which 
the unworthy conduct is exhibited ? Or how can any 
one rationally expect to participate in that peculiar 
blessedness, in this world or in the next, which it is the 
very object of the gospel to confer, when he thus treats 
its divine record with indifference and disdain, and sets 
at nought the evident appointments of its great and mer- 
ciful Author ? 

And moreover, we must repeat the statement, that 
the blessedness flowing from the gospel is to be received 
and enjoyed, not by chance, or according to human 
fancy and caprice, but in a certain instituted way. It 
is not bestowed upon all indiscriminately, whatever be 
their dispositions their principles or their conduct, and in 
whatever manner, or to whatever extent, or on whatever 
terms they are willing to accept it. We cannot sepa- 
rate it from that spiritual instrumentality, of which it is 
the natural or the destined result. The two things are 
indissolubly united ; and the result cannot be obtained 
unless the instrumentality is made to work according to 
the will of him who formed it. There is a plan by 
which this blessedness is secured for the sinner, so far 
as to be brought within his reach ; and there is a plan 
by which it is made over to him as an actual and per- 
sonal attainment. And as it could have had no reality, 
if the former plan had not been executed and fulfilled, 
so it can have no practical application, and cannot be- 
come a matter of experience, unless the latter plan be 
acquiesced in, and adhered to. Besides, if this plan be 
not studied and comprehended, how can any individual 
so betake himself to it, and so make use of its provi- 
sions, and so submit to its direction and influence, as 



120 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



that he may reasonably expect to derive the benefits by 
which it will contribute effectually to his safety and his 
happiness ? In this case it is impossible for him to do 
and to become that which it, as an economy of grace, 
requires him to do and to become ; and therefore, it is 
equally impossible for him to receive, or to enjoy, what 
it promises to bestow on such only as yield themselves 
to its requisitions. All that it proposes to effect in his 
nature and character — all that it prescribes as to belief, 
and regeneration, and prayer, and obedience, necessarily 
remains a dead letter, for he neither knows nor under- 
stands it : and, consequently, it is no less idle than it is 
presumptuous in him to lay a flattering unction to his 
soul, and to be gladdened by the gospel sound. The 
Israelites would neither have been comforted nor ani- 
mated by the sound of the silver trumpets, if they had 
not been previously made acquainted with its precise 
meaning and intent ; and if they had not also consid- 
ered it as connected with that system of divine manage- 
ment and guidance under which the Almighty had 
placed them. No more can any one rightly appropri- 
ate to himself the peace, and the felicity, which the 
gospel message announces, unless he perceive the drift 
of that message, and its exact bearing on what he is, 
and on what he is to do, and its relation to his substan- 
tial interests, as well as to his essential character. So 
long as he is not aware of these things, the message of 
the gospel is not, warrantably, a joyful sound to him ; 
and it cannot make him truly blessed, with whatever 
frequency, and with whatever seriousness, he may 
hear it. 

The same view is to be taken, and the same judg- 
ment formed, of those, who, though they study the gos- 
pel, study it on wrong principles — who are conversant 
with the scriptures which unfold it, but have embraced 
unsound and partial notions of its leading truths — who 
can declaim eloquently, and reason ingeniously, on 
many parts of it, but who have so misapprehended, and 
so perverted these, as to render them inadequate to the 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



121 



purpose which the author of salvation intended them to 
subserve. We do not, by any means, assert that every 
erroneous conception of the gospel message is thus fatal 
to the joy of him who entertains it. Many mistakes 
may be committed, without affecting our interest in the 
salvation which it proclaims, or our share in the bless- 
edness which it imparts. And when these mistakes are 
committed in spite of sincere, and strenuous, and prayer- 
ful efforts to acquire a spiritual discernment of it, we 
should be sorry were we obliged to affix to them any 
severe or rigorous penalty. But while none of them is 
to be palliated or thought lightly of in any circumstances, 
and while they are all to be condemned — if they be the 
consequences of wilful opposition, or contemptuous in- 
difference to what God has been pleased to declare for 
the instruction of those whom he addresses — there are 
certain errors which, being attached to the very vitals of 
Christianity as a system of redemption, cannot be main- 
tained and acted upon, without cutting up our hope and 
our happiness by the very roots ; and which force on us 
the conviction that these deadly effects must only be the 
surer, by their flowing from a total carelessness about 
understanding what it is of such vast importance rightly 
and thoroughly to comprehend. Numerous examples 
of this may be adduced. 

By not sufficiently studying the gospel message, you 
may have been brought to shrink from the idea of Christ's 
divinity, and to reduce him to the level of a mere crea- 
ture. But, if this be your view of the Saviour, and if 
you act upon it, you cannot be blessed ; for not only do 
you thus allow the suggestions of proud and carnal rea- 
son to lord it over the lessons and the dictates of revela- 
tion, but you give your homage and your trust to one 
who, while he is a redeemer of your own creation, has 
no power to sustain the burden of your guilt, or to lead 
you a single step onward to glory. 

Again, by not sufficiently studying the gospel, you 
have come, perhaps, to the conclusion that, to be justi- 
fied and reconciled to God. you must depend upon your 
11 



122 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



own righteousness. Holding this doctrine, then, and 
acting upon it, you cannot be blessed ; for the real and 
saving truth is, that " by the deeds of the law, no flesh 
living can be justified,"— that the blotting out of sin is 
exclusively an achievement of the cross — and that peace 
with God is attainable only through faith in the atone- 
ment and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Again, by not sufficiently studying the gospel message, 
you have, it may be, formed an opinion that Christ is 
not only your righteousness, but your sanctification, in 
such a sense as to supersede the necessity of a personal 
conformity to the divine will. And holding such a tenet, 
and acting upon it, you cannot be blessed ; for the au- 
thentic and unchangeable truth is, that a renewal of the 
moral nature is indispensable — that nothing can cancel 
our obligations to serve God with the whole heart — and 
that " without holiness no man can see the Lord." 

Once more, though satisfied that both Christ's righte- 
ousness, and your own personal righteousness are ne- 
cessary, each of them in its own proper place, and for 
its own proper end, yet, by not sufficiently studying the 
gospel message, you may be holding the sentiment that 
to aim at a participation in the one, and to labor for 
the cultivation of the other, in virtue of your own inde- 
pendent strength, is sufficient for ensuring your success 
in both objects. And, if this be your view, and if you 
act upon it, you cannot be blessed ; for it is a fundamen- 
tal principle of the gospel, that " of yourselves you can 
do nothing" — that " faith is the gift of God" — and that 
it is the agency of his Spirit which creates the clean 
heart, and gives its issues in a holy life. 

It is clear then, that to know the sound of the gospel, 
so that men may be made joyful and blessed by it, they 
must have a right and adequate understanding of what it 
is — of what it presents to them — of what it exacts from 
them— and of what it promises to bestow upon them. 

To you, my Christian friends, to whom the gospel is 
precious, and who have been made blessed by listening 
to its joyful sound, the illustrations now given may be 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



123 



unnecessary, but they are unnecessary to you only be- 
cause your experience has long since convinced you of 
their conclusiveness, and their truth. You can bear 
your testimony to this, that so long as you were igno- 
rant of the gospel scheme, you were strangers to the 
comfort, and peace, and joy, with which its message is 
fraught — that these never entered your minds, till you 
saw its wise and compassionate bearing on your spirit- 
ual condition — and that they have been relished and 
augmented in proportion as you have, from a deeper, 
and more accurate, and more lengthened inquiry into 
its nature and properties, seen ground for admitting its 
wonderful adaptation to your circumstances, and learned 
from it those lessons, by which it is so perfectly fitted to 
regulate both your faith and your practice. And I am 
confident that — not merely out of reverence for its 
adorable Author, but also from a conviction that your 
blessedness must be continued and enhanced, by pre- 
serving and by adding to the knowledge of it which you 
have already acquired — it will be your business to seek 
after a still clearer, and still profounder insight into its 
mysteries ; and to find, in that growing acquaintance 
with the unspotted and inexhaustible excellence by 
which it is pervaded, more abundant reason to rejoice 
in it, as the covenant of your peace, as the gospel of 
your salvation, as the charter of your happiness. 

And understanding the gospel message for yourselves, 
you will be anxious to convey it to others ; and to con- 
vey it to them, not as the theme of a vague speculation, 
or as the object of a general and indiscriminating belief, 
but in its real and distinctive characters, and as con- 
taining those instructive and life-giving truths which 
constitute its power of sending forth a "joyful sound," 
and of contributing to the spiritual blessedness of its 
votaries. Far from being contented with sending to 
them Christianity, and with seeing them embrace it, in 
any shape whatever, as if its mere name were sufficient 
to charm away sin and secure salvation, you will be 
anxious that they should receive it in all its doctrinal 



124 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



purity, and entertain the most correct conceptions of 
every thing within it, and concerning it, on which God 
has been pleased to disclose his will. And, especially, 
will you be desirous of representing it to them, and en- 
forcing it upon them, as a system suited in all respects 
to their condition, as the guilty and depraved and help- 
less subjects of God's moral government — a system, in 
which they may behold man's moral distemper as a 
sinner, cared for and remedied by a Physician of un- 
erring skill and almighty power — a system, wherein 
they may behold the justice of God, which their tres- 
passes had so greatly offended, reconciled with the 
mercy of God, which "their misery so absolutely needed 
— a system, in which they may behold such a sacrifice 
offered, such a ransom paid, such a work accomplished, 
as make it consistent with all the attributes of Deity to 
rescue transgressors from death, and conduct them to 
glory — a system, in which they may behold a founda- 
tion* for all the hopes that they need to build upon it, 
and which, the longer that they survey its dimensions, 
and the more narrowly that they examine its materials 
and its structure, will approve itself the more to their 
judgment and their taste, as entitled to their highest ad- 
miration and their most unlimited conGdence. 

Alas ! how many are there among us, and in the 
world around us, whom the sound of the gospel has 
reached, and by whom the profession of the gospel is 
publicly made ; but who are either indifferent as to what 
creed respecting it they adopt, or strong in their at- 
tachment to doctrines which are equally contradictory 
to its announcements, and dangerous to man's salvation ! 
Let these persons be partakers of your spiritual sympa- 
thy and commiseration. Never regard their errors 
with apathy, or treat them with unconcern. Let your 
pity for their souls, and your jealousy for the truth as it 
is in Jesus, lead you to take an interest in their case, as 
one of serious moment to themselves, and to the church, 
and to the world. Strive by your testimony, your 
counsel, your prayers, your employment and application 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



125 



of all competent means, to enlighten and reclaim them. 
And think not that your duty is performed, or your be- 
nevolence exhausted, so long as you can do any thing 
by which they may be brought to a more perfect under- 
standing of the gospel, and made to enter more intelli- 
gently, more feelingly, and more thoroughly into the 
spirit of the declaration which says, " Blessed is the 
people that know the joyful sound." 

3. In the third and last place, to know the joyful 
sound, implies that we welcome, believe, and obey the 
gospel. 

It is very possible to hear the message of the gospel, 
and to understand its meaning, and yet to be destitute 
of the blessedness, which it is designed by its Author, 
and calculated in its own nature, to impart. In that 
case, it is the hearing of the external ear, and nothing 
else ; or it is the understanding of mere intellect, and 
nothing else : and if sense and speculation, and nothing 
else, be concerned in the regards which are paid to 
the gospel, or in the effects which it produces on those 
to whom it is addressed, I know of no authority in its 
own record, and of no warrant in the reason and pro- 
priety of the thing itself, for feeling, or for cherish- 
ing, any emotions of gladness. On the contrary, that 
•privilege is directly discouraged — it is expressly denied 
— with respect to those who merely listen to what the 
gospel says to them, or merely take a transient and dis- 
tant survey of its plan, or merely possess the faculty of 
talking and arguing and conjecturing about the doctrines 
and statements which it contains. If we rest satisfied 
with such naked and superficial regards as these ; if we 
go no deeper into the subject; if we come into no 
closer contact with it ; if we take no livelier nor more 
personal interest in it ; then we treat the gospel as of no 
substantial value; we disallow its most obvious and 
peremptory claims ; we neglect its most important 
character ; we act towards it as if it were a system of 
mere human wisdom, or the creation of mere human 
fancy ; and thus refusing whatever is due to its divine 



126 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



excellence, and to its no less divine authority, we fore- 
™ by just and necessary consequence, whatever it 
proffers to us of rest and happiness. What ! my friends, 
can you really feel the blessedness derived from the 
gospel, when yet you account its message of so little 
moment, though it tells you of a great salvation wrought 
out for you by the Son of God, that you will give it no 
welcome into your hearts, and no cherished residence 
there ? Can the sound of the gospel be verily joyful to 
you, when you will not meet its announcements with an 
humble and cordial belief, although these are the an- 
nouncements of eternal truth — " faithful sayings," and 
therefore " worthy of all acceptation ?" And can the 
gospel fill your mind with gladness, or visit you with 
one happy emotion, when you withhold, at once so un- 
dutifully, and so ungratefully, that obedience which it 
not only positively commands and affectionately en- 
treats, but also most explicitly and inseparably conjoins 
with all the good which it promises to bestow? To 
those who, in this manner, put the gospel away from 
them, or who use it as a mere exercise for their reason, 
or as the mere plaything of their imagination, it can 
speak no joy ; upon them it will confer no blessedness. 

O what numbers are there, by whom it is thus dis- 
honorably treated, or practically despised ; and who yet 
seem to flatter themselves that all is well with their souls, 
who speak of their state before God with ease and sat- 
isfaction, and rejoice confidently in the anticipations of 
a better world ! Alas ! how blinded are they by the 
ignorance that is in them to the realities of their spirit- 
ual condition ! Would they but study the constitution, 
and give heed to the language, of the gospel ; would 
they but attend to the stress which it lays upon the con- 
nexion that subsists between character and privilege, 
between faith and peace, between holiness and happi- 
ness, between immortality and meetness for it ; would 
they but give credit to what it declares concerning the 
demerit, and the danger, and the ultimate fate of such 
as they are — how would all their joyfulness vanish 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



127 



away as a dream of the night, and give place to fear 
and anguish and tribulation ! And how would that 
sound which has played about their ear as the sound 
of blessedness, be converted into the voice of indigna- 
tion and terror — uttered, too, by the God of all grace, but 
whose grace, as manifested and embodied in the gos- 
pel, has been lightly esteemed, or sadly abused, and 
who therefore speaks in the awful accents of insulted 
justice and neglected mercy ! Let sinners who are 
thus at ease in Sion, who are assured and happy in the 
midst of peril, who are rejoicing in a salvation which 
they have not yet appreciated, and which is not yet theirs, 
— let them consider these things, and no longer remain 
in the delusion with which they are now encompassed, 
and which must finally prove their ruin and their 
misery. 

Yes, my Christian brethren, these men are indeed 
deluded ; they are not the people that know the joyful 
sound, and are blessed. If they are so, then the gos- 
pel is a fable, salvation is a shadow, and truth has for- 
saken the word of God. Nay, but they are deluded — 
we know they are deluded — grossly, grievously, fatally 
deluded. May the Lord himself deliver, and restore, 
and save them ! 

And be you humble, and be you thankful, that, 
instead of having your lot with them, you are, in very- 
deed, of those that are blessed by having " known the 
joyful sound." Be humble, when you recollect and 
meditate on your utter unworthiness of such a distin- 
guished privilege. And be thankful to Him, by whose 
undeserved mercy you have been called to the partici- 
pation and enjoyment of it. To you it has been given 
to " know the joyful sound" — to give a cordial recep- 
tion to the message which it brings, because it is fraught 
with innumerable and surpassing benefits — to exercise 
a strong and lively faith in it, because it rests upon the 
testimony of the true and faithful God — and to render 
to it a profound and practical submission, as sanctioned 
by an authority which the universe obeys, and enforced 



128 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



by the manifestation of a love whose height and depth 
and breadth and length exceed all our powers of meas- 
urement. Thus have you been enabled by the power 
and teaching of the Spirit to listen to the sound of the 
gospel, and therefore to you it is a "joyful sound," it is 
not only calculated and intended to make you joyful, 
but it has actually made you joyful ; as your conscious- 
ness and experience abundantly testify. And therefore 
are you blessed — not merely visited with gleams of 
passing pleasure, or with raptures which have their mo- 
ment and die away, but inhabited by the peace which 
nothing can disturb, animated by the joy which nothing 
can take away, settled on the hope which already makes 
heaven and immortality your own. 

It is a blessed thing for a man to have all his sins 
forgiven, and thus to be rescued from the curse of a 
broken law, and the apprehension of future wrath — and 
that blessedness is yours. It is a blessed thing for an 
apostate alienated creature to be reconciled to the great 
Creator, and in the spirit of adoption to look up to him 
as his Father, to whose favor he has been graciously 
restored, and from whom he shall be estranged no more 
— and that blessedness is yours. It is a blessed thing 
to be delivered from the tyranny of unholy passions, and 
from the dominion of an ungodly world, and to come 
into the glorious liberty of the moral nature wherewith 
Christ makes his people free — and that blessedness is 
yours. It is a blessed thing to look abroad upon the 
face of nature, and after gazing with a delighted eye on 
the beauties that adorn the earth, and on the magnifi- 
cence that cover the heavens, to rejoice in them as the 
works of him who has called you back to the work and 
die privileges of his children, and to say w 7 ith the glow of 
filial affection, " my Father made them all" — and that 
blessedness is yours. It is a blessed thing, amidst the 
trials, and difficulties, and distresses with which human- 
ity has to struggle in this weary world, to be upheld by 
divine power, to be guided by infinite wisdom, to be 
cheered by heavenly consolations, and to gather right- 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



129 



eousness and joy even from the scene of tribulation in 
which you dwell — and that blessedness is yours- It is 
a blessed thing to be able to contemplate death without 
being subject to the bondage of fear, to anticipate the 
grave as a resting-place from sin and sorrow, to lie 
down in its peaceful bosom with the prospect of a res- 
urrection to life and immortality — and that blessedness 
is yours. It is a blessed thing when one looks forward 
to the judgment and to eternity which await us all, to 
realize in him who is to pronounce our doom, the 
Saviour to whom we have committed the keeping of 
our souls, and in whose blood we are already washed 
from our sins, and to cherish the hope founded on his 
own faithful promise, that the portion assigned us is 
everlasting life — and that blessedness is yours. And, if 
in this state of darkness and imperfection, where our 
views are too often clouded, and our faith too often 
grows feeble, and the heart too often forgets the rock 
on which it has placed its confidence for eternity — if in 
these circumstances, it is a blessed thing to have access 
to those ordinances which have been appointed for re- 
freshing our decayed spirits, for casting a clearer light 
upon the path of our pilgrimage, for bringing us nearer 
to the fountain of grace and comfort, and for reviving 
and strengthening " the things that are ready to die" — 
that blessedness also is yours. 

Happy people ! thus saved by the Lord — to whom 
the joyful sound of the gospel has come, fraught with a 
meaning and a power, and a consolation, infinitely 
richer and more efficient than all that the sound of the 
silver trumpets conveyed to the children of Israel as 
they journeyed through the wilderness — and who have 
not only in this agitated and sorrowful world, the peace 
that passeth understanding, and the joy that is unspeak- 
able, but are soon to enter on that state of felicity, of 
which you have here only a pledge and a foretaste, in 
which purity untainted, and bliss unalloyed, shall cleave 
to you in endless fellowship, and in which the fulness of 
your joy shall be equalled only by the eternity of its 
duration. 



130 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



And, surely, my Christian friends, you cannot but 
desire, and you cannot but endeavor, to make your fel- 
low-men partakers of that blessedness with which you 
are so richly favored, by making them experimentally 
acquainted with that message from which alone such 
blessedness can proceed. I doubt not you are, more or 
less, engaged in advancing the spread of the gospel. 
But let me urge it upon you not to rest satisfied with 
those efforts which seem to have no higher object, and 
can have no other effect, than that of gaining nominal 
proselytes, and teaching men to conclude that they have 
a right to the salvation of the gospel, merely because 
they profess Christianity, and are acquainted with its 
letter, and conform to its general requisitions, though, 
all the while, they are destitute of its quickening spirit, 
and rebellious against its governing authority. You 
know, that from your own personal history, that this is 
a vital and ruinous deception, and that the gospel must 
be received, and confided in, and submitted to, in a far 
different way, before men can be truly safe, and truly 
happy. And, therefore, as you would be wise and con- 
sistent, as well as compassionate, in your exertions to 
bring them into that blessed state, see that you employ 
those methods which will not only make the sound of 
the gospel reach their ears and inform their understand- 
ings, but penetrate and subdue and pervade their hearts, 
and manifest itself there as a message of love, and as a 
message from God, in demonstration of the spirit and of 
power. Keep this continually in your view ; pursue it 
with steady and unceasing aim ; let it give a tone and 
the direction to all that you may do for evangelizing the 
world. And, whether you propose to send the gospel 
where it is altogether unknown ; or whether you pre- 
sent it to those who have hitherto rejected the offer of 
it ; or whether you labor for its prosperity with such as 
are satisfied with its outward forms, and its legal estab- 
lishment ; or whether you study to promote its interests 
among individuals, or among communities, that have 
perverted its principles, and allowed its vitality to evap- 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



131 



orate : let your great and leading purpose be, to secure 
its entrance into the sinner's inmost soul, to win for it 
a triumph over the whole man, to bring all upon whom 
it is made to bear, to the saving belief, and willing obe- 
dience, and unspeakable enjoyment, of the truth as it is 
in Jesus Christ. 

This, my friends, is characteristic of the Institution in 
whose behalf I now address you. Our object is to in- 
crease the number of the people that are blessed, because 
they " know the joyful sound of the gospel." And the 
scene in which we carry on our work of faith, and labor 
of love, is, as you may learn from our distinctive appel- 
lation, the Continent of Europe. We are not indiffer- 
ent to the ignorance, and the error, and the sinfulness, 
that prevail in our native land: we regard these evils 
with sorrow and compassion — we rejoice in the exer- 
tions that are so zealously put forth to mitigate or re- 
move them — and we should deem ourselves wanting in 
Christian love, did we not individually help forward 
these exertions by our co-operation and our aid. 
Neither are we deaf to the cry for help that comes to 
us from every quarter of the heathen world : the asso- 
ciated efforts that are everywhere making for rendering 
the name of Christ honorable, and his salvation precious 
among the Gentiles, fill us with unfeigned satisfaction ; 
and far be it from any of us to refuse to that cause what 
our opportunities enable us to do, or what our circum- 
stances enable us to bestow. But the population, to 
whose spiritual wants we are united and pledged to min- 
ister, is too interesting, and too necessitous, to be 
neglected, amidst the multiplied manifestations of Chris- 
tian and British philanthropy. What multitudes are 
lying prostrate before the man of sin — the slaves of a 
domineering priesthood — shut out, upon system, from 
the fountain of divine truth — taught to build their confi- 
dence upon a foundation which cannot stand in the 
judgment — and involved in all the darkness, and fool- 
eries, and impieties, and abominations of a church, which 
God has given over to judicial blindness, and consigned 



132 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



SER. 3. 



to terrible destruction. And even of those who have 
come out from the mystic Babylon, and taken a protest 
against her doctrines and her dominion, what a vast 
proportion have forsaken all the truth and glory of the 
Reformation — embraced a creed from which every 
thing is banished that makes the gospel dear to a sin- 
ner's heart, or honorable to a redeeming God — or sunk 
into a spiritual lethargy, in which, with a name to live, 
men are sleeping the sleep of death — or avow an infi- 
delity, which tramples on all the sacredness of the Bible, 
and, under the pretext of doing homage to its Author, 
gives its sublimest and most precious discoveries to the 
scorn of the profane, and to the laughter of the fool ! 
It is for the benefit of such degenerates, and such out- 
casts, and such enemies of Christianity as these, that 
our Society has been formed, and that we crave the 
public support. We send forth missionaries, fitted by 
their talents, their zeal, and their character, to preach 
the gospel of the grace of God — to lift up a testimony 
for the deity and the cross of Christ — to recal attention 
to all that is peculiar to the gospel of salvation — to 
assert the authority of those scriptures which have been 
given by divine inspiration — and to teach the victims 
of spiritual despotism, and the votaries of a false philos- 
ophy, and the crowd of deluded sinners that know not 
what they do, to return to the God whom they have 
forsaken, through the Saviour whom they have despised, 
and to hear, and believe, and obey the message of that 
gospel which alone can make them free. And though 
we cannot boast of any flattering measure of success, 
and bring before you an array of converts to the 
truth, and speak of extensive awakenings, and mighty 
inroads on the territory of sin and Satan ; yet you will 
remember that we labor in a region where the dark- 
ness may be felt, and cultivate a soil that is hard as ad- 
amant, and contend with foes that struggle for error as 
they struggle for life ; and that, in spite of all these 
difficulties and disadvantages, we can appeal to such a 
progress in the work of evangelization, as might encour- 



SER. 3. 



THE JOYFUL SOUND. 



133 



age hearts less sanguine than ours, and to prospects of 
increasing good, which might animate the most apathetic 
and desponding of those who are engaged in illuminat- 
ing a benighted world. 

My Christian friends, we solicit your countenance. 
Instead of regarding our enterprise with indifference, as 
if it were of a trifling character, or frowning upon it as 
if it were injurious, or turning away from it, as if it were 
hopeless, we beseech you to recollect that it concerns 
the souls of immortal beings — that it applies to them 
the means of salvation which God himself has sanc- 
tioned — and that we have reason to anticipate fruit that 
shall be for the divine glory and for the happiness of 
men. Recollecting these things, we entreat you to 
permit us to share in that patronage, which you so lib- 
erally bestow on the schemes and the efforts of Chris- 
tian benevolence. 



12 



SERMON IV, 



SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



2 CORINTHIANS r. 17. 

" Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new crea- 
ture ; old things are passed away ; behold all things 
are become new." 

Paul and bis brethren in the ministry bad, at one pe- 
riod, been influenced by secular and worldly views. 
They had felt a peculiar partiality for such as belonged 
to the privileged community of the Jews ; and had 
allowed themselves to be actuated by the consideration 
of the ad vantage or disadvantage likely to result from 
retaining or losing the friendship of their former asso- 
ciates. They had besides so far misunderstood the 
character and kingdom of the Messiah, as to suppose, 
that he came to act the part of a temporal prince ; and 
under this impression, had not only aspired to the hon- 
ors and benefits which, in that capacity, he was expect- 
ed to bestow, but had had their attachment to him and 
their obedience to him, more or less governed by the 
motives which these selfish views suggested. Now, 
however, they were completely rescued from the thral- 
dom of such debasing errors. Their ideas of outward 
privilege, and of true religion, and of the mission of the 
S aviour, we re divested of all that carnality by which 
they had been formerly corrupted and debased. They 



SER. 4. SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



135 



regarded him whose messengers they were, as a spirit- 
ual Redeemer and a spiritual King ; they looked for no 
blessings from him, but what were connected with the 
welfare of the soul and with eternity. And they esti- 
mated others, not by external distinctions, nor by their 
power of conferring earthly good, but by the conformity 
of their temper and deportment to the divine will, and 
by their having undergone that renovation of the heart 
and life, which is the true glory, and the true happiness 
of man. "Wherefore, henceforth know we no man 
after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ 
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no 
more." And so will it be, not merely with apostles, 
but with all who understand the nature, and feel the 
power, and partake of the salvation of the gospel. " For 
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old 
things are passed away ; behold, all things are become 
new." 

1. In the fast place, the text intimates, that a great 
moral change in the sinner is necessary. This is evi- 
dent from the state in which man is every where found, 
and in which the Bible uniformly represents him to be. 
He is in a state not merely of guilt and condemnation, 
which requires for him the exercise of pardoning mercy, 
that he may not be forever miserable ; but also of de- 
pravity and corruption, from which he must be rescued, 
otherwise he can never attain to the true honor of his 
nature, or enjoy communion with God upon earth, or 
become a partaker of the happiness that is in heaven. 
Nothing is more obvious to every intelligent observer, 
and nothing is more plainly taught in revelation, than 
that he is a fallen creature ; and that one effect of his 
fall, is to be discovered in his want of original righteous- 
ness, his disinclination to obey the divine will, and his 
aptness to indulge in unholy pursuits and unholy pleas- 
ures. Even when placed in the most favorable circum- 
stances, with every motive to do what is good, and every 
facility for avoiding what is evil, how perversely does 
he choose to gratify his passions and appetites, rather 



136 



SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



SER. 4. 



than submit them to the control of God's law ; how 
easily and willingly does he become a prey to those 
temptations by which he is assailed ; and how frequently 
does he prefer vice to virtue, in spite of all the restraints 
that worldly, as well as higher considerations, impose 
upon his conduct ! The wicked habits he forms by 
such a course of transgression, clearly and unquestion- 
ably demand a change ; because as long as they pre- 
vail over him, he cannot reach either the glory or the 
felicity, to which he was primarily destined, and to 
which it is the great object of Christianity to restore 
him. But, independently of these habits, which have 
so obtained the mastery over him as to incapacitate him 
for pure and celestial enjoyment, and which must there- 
fore be eradicated and made to give place to habits of 
an opposite description, the very dispositions in which 
they originate, the inherent propensities which have pro- 
duced and nourished them, are such, that they must 
undergo an alterative process, before the individual who 
owns them can be either truly holy, or truly blessed ; 
or, in other words, be invested with that character 
which he lost by the apostacy of the first Adam, and 
which he is to regain by the interposition of the second. 
Nay, though we should see in him none of those deeds 
of impiety, or licentiousness, into which it is the natural 
tendency of all men to fall ; and though we should 
trace none of that decided bias to sinful gratification, 
which, nevertheless, lurks in every human breast ; 
though we should witness many amiable feelings at 
work, and many actions that are equally useful and 
praiseworthy; still, it will not be difficult in all this, to 
perceive the absence of that principle, without which 
the strictest and most literal performance of duty, is 
nothing better than ungodliness — the principle, I mean, 
which recognises the authority of God, and, in the ab- 
sence of which, there can be nothing good or accepta- 
ble in his sight. And here too, he must be changed so 
far as to have this great fundamental principle implanted 
and established in him, instead of that mere constitu- 



SER. 4. 



SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



137 



tional amiableness, or that mere worldly virtue, which 
bears the semblance, but has none of the reality, and 
none of the truth of true holiness; and which, much as 
it may be esteemed by short sighted mortals, has no 
value in the regard of Him, whose approbation is the 
only standard of moral excellence, and the only foun- 
tain of spiritual blessedness. 

In these respects, and for these reasons, there must 
be a great moral change effected, in every man to 
whose salvation the gospel is ultimately available. This 
we cannot doubt, when we look to the condition from 
which it proposes to deliver him, as contrasted with 
that to which it proposes to bring him — the character 
which it ascribes to him in his natural state, as com- 
pared with the character in which it clothes him after 
he is subjected to divine influence. The scriptures 
speak of it, indeed, in plain and emphatic terms, refer 
to it frequently as of peculiar moment, and proceed 
upon it as an essential truth. Nor do they mention it 
as something which must pass upon persons of a partic- 
ular temperament of mind, or of a particular description 
of character, and from which all others may consider 
themselves as exempted ; but as that which is indispen- 
sable for every individual of the human race, as that, in 
short, which is commensurate with the extent of the fall 
and with the prevalence of sin. But, indeed, that the 
change we speak of is more or less necessary for every 
one, is generally admitted ; the error which prevails 
respecting it, has reference chiefly to its nature and de- 
gree. It is allowed that every one must be changed in 
some respect or other. This one, we are told, must 
get rid of a certain vicious propensity ; and that one- 
must renounce a certain vicious practice. And, when 
the reformation specified has actually taken place, the 
very language of our text is employed to describe the 
change, and the person by whom it has been experi- 
enced is denominated " a new creature." Now all this 
arises from having very inadequate notions of man's 
state by nature, of that which he is required to become, 
*12 



138 



SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



SER. 4. 



and of the doctrine of the Bible, as to the important 
change in question. And therefore we remark, 

2. In the second place, that the moral change which 
every sinner must undergo, is comprehensive, thorough, 
and pervading. 

Those imperfect views of it, to which I have advert- 
ed, are so contradictory to every thing that we are 
taught in the Bible, and indeed, so much at variance 
with what we may gather from the history and appear- 
ances of human nature, as it is every where exhibited 
in the world, in relation to what it ought to be both as 
to purity and enjoyment, that we can impute them to 
nothing so much as to that spiritual blindness — that obdu- 
racy of heart — that very love of sin, and aversion to 
goodness, which make the change we speak of so 
requisite, and which may be regarded as an additional 
proof and illustration of its necessity. Look into the 
inspired volume, and see the account which it gives of 
man as a fallen being; and having pondered upon that, 
judge whether the change can be either partial or su- 
perficial, which terminates in a character so abhorrent 
of what is base, and so distinguished by " whatsoever is 
true, and pure, and lovely, and of good report," as is 
the character of the real Christian. Nothing can be 
more degenerate than the one ; nothing more perfect in 
its principles, or more exalted in its tendencies and as- 
pirations, than (he other. There cannot be a greater 
contrariety between two things, than between the soul 
that is alienated in all its affections and operations, 
from him who is " glorious in holiness," and the soul 
whose every feeling, and faculty, and movement, are so 
consecrated to that great Being, as to render it like 
unto himself. 

Again, consider the similitudes by which the scrip- 
tures express not merely the reality, but the greatness 
of this change. It is represented as the " coming out 
of a darkness" so gross, that the sinner, while in it, can 
scarcely discern right from wrong, and cannot walk a 
step in the path of acceptable obedience — into a " light" 



SER. 4. 



SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



139 



that is clear and " marvellous," that points out all his 
way to heaven, and that, " shineth more and more unto 
the perfect day." It is represented as " a resurrection" 
from the dead ; from a state in which all the sinner's 
powers and susceptibilities are dead to God, buried in 
the grave of corruption, and incapable of one holy 
effort, or of a single becoming emotion — to a state in 
which he becomes alive to all that is great and good, 
rises from the tomb where he lay amidst rottenness and 
impurity, throws off the fetters which enchained his 
faculties, is animated with the love of righteousness, and 
walks abroad refreshed by the breath of heaven, and 
exulting in the bliss of a new-born existence. It is 
represented as a new birth ; in which the defects and 
deformities of the Christian's former self are not al- 
lowed to have anyplace; by which he enters into a 
new world, and begins a new course ; and from which 
his regenerated nature, though commencing with the 
weakness of infancy, will grow up to the vigor and 
stature and measure of a perfect man. And in my 
text, it is represented as a fresh creation — intimating 
thereby, that the elements of the Christian's moral na- 
ture are modelled and organized anew — that, from 
every department of bis being, there is excluded what- 
ever had formerly defaced its beauty, or deranged its 
structure, or perverted its use — that the whole man is 
framed agreeably to the will of the great Creator, con- 
secrated to his service, and honored with his residence. 
All these representations demonstrate the vastness and 
completeness of the change that is wrought in the sin- 
ner, when he is converted to God ; and must prevent 
every considerate person from thinking lightly of it, as 
if it could be easily made, or required few sacrifices, or 
demanded no great anxiety about its accomplishment. 
They show such a total revolution of character to be 
necessary, as proves that a great proportion of those 
who flatter themselves that they have undergone it, are 
really cherishing a delusion, which, in the end, must 
prove as ruinous as it is vain ; and they warn us all to 



140 



SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



SER. 4. 



take heed to ourselves, and not to be satisfied, as we 
are too apt to be, with mere appearances — with partial 
svraptoms — with outward and compromising amend- 
ments — with any thing, in short, that does not go to the 
very root of the matter, and give evidence that whatso- 
ever constitutes man a moral and accountable being has 
been so transformed as to make us willingly subject to 
the Father of our spirits. 

In his Epistle to the Ephesians, (iv. 22.) the Apostle 
Paul gives a short, but comprehensive description of 
this process, from which you may learn what is implied 
in becoming a new creature. " That ye put off, con- 
cerning the former conversation, the old man, which is 
corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts; and be re- 
newed in the spirit of your minds; and that ye put on 
the new man, which, after God, is created in righteous- 
ness and true holiness." In these words, there is set 
before you, by means of a strong figure, the transition 
you are to make, the character you are to renounce, 
and that which in its stead you are to embrace and cul- 
tivate. You are to " put off as respects your former 
conversation," or the conduct which you maintained 
when you were heathen or unregenerate, " the old 
man" — the vicious nature, from which that conduct pro- 
ceeded, and which is so essentially and wholly corrupt- 
ed as to be full of the inordinate desires that deceive 
those who yield to them, and drown them in perdition, 
by leading to all manner of sinful indulgence — you 
must put off this depraved nature, as you would throw 
away a garment which is polluted, torn, disgraceful and 
useless. And so thorough must this renunciation of 
" the old man" be, that you must be " renewed in the 
spirit of your mind ;" you must not be reformed mere- 
ly, but "renewed ;" you must be renewed not merely 
in external manners, " but in your mind ;" and you 
must be renewed not simply in the general disposition 
of your mind, but in its very "spirit" — in that which 
gives the tone to your whole temper, and goes forth with 
its practical influences into the whole tenor of your de- 



SER. 3. SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



141 



portment ; and which, according as it is good or bad, 
will render you an object either of sore displeasure or 
of kind regard to him who is your Ruler and your 
Judge : and having renounced the old man — those pur- 
suits and pleasures in which you formerly delighted ; 
and having been made new in your inmost heart, and 
in all the springs of action, you must " put on the new 
man" — you must maintain and cultivate that character 
"which, after God" — in obedience to his will, in con- 
formity to his example, in furtherance of his glory, and 
in the exercise of his grace, " is created" or formed, so 
as to exhibit the various excellencies which are com- 
prised "in righteousness and true holiness" — the holi- 
ness which consists in obedience to the will of God, 
under the operation of those principles and motives 
which are prescribed in the word of God. You must 
" put on this new man," as you would put on a garment 
which will cover your whole person ; a garment so 
beautiful as to please the eye of him whom it is your 
privilege to serve upon earth, and so becoming and suf- 
ficient as to fit you for sitting down at that divine feast 
which he has prepared for you in heaven. 

The magnitude of the change implied in the sinner 
becoming " a new creature" may also be inferred, from 
the nature of the agency by which it is effected. The 
reformations and amendments of character with which 
so many are ready to be satisfied, as all that God re- 
quires of them, need no extraordinary means to bring 
them about. It is generally enough for that purpose, 
merely to yield to the power of a worldly or selfish mo- 
tive — to give up one secular advantage in exchange for 
another — to check a propensity, or renounce an indul- 
gence, which was injuring our earthly prospects and 
encroaching on our own scheme of earthly happiness — 
and thus to be all the while retaining the objects of our 
original attachments, and only varying the mode of grat- 
ifying our corrupt desires. The intemperate man may 
become sober, only to economise his substance and 
spare his health, which he may devote to indulgences 



142 



SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. SER. 4. 



not one whit more innocent than those he has forsaken. 
The dishonest man may cease from fraud and robbery, 
merely that he may escape punishment from men, and 
be free to engage in other practices, in which he as little 
acknowledges the divine authority, or the welfare of his 
fellow-creatures. And the openly profane and irre- 
ligious may desist from taking God's name in vain, and 
no longer neglect God's ordinances, that, by this means, 
he may acquire a reputation for piety, and commit, un- 
der the hypocrite's guise, what he found it unsafe or 
inconvenient to commit in the eye of the world. But 
in all these, and in all similar cases, there is not even 
an approximation to the self-denial and the unreserved 
devotedness of " the new creature;" the ungodliness of 
the fallen nature remains uncorrected and unsubdued ; 
it runs merely in other channels and displays itself in 
other forms; and the "old man" is as powerful and as 
rampant as ever. But when the sinner becomes " a 
new creature," his love and his hatred are inverted ; 
what he once loved he now hates, and what he once 
hated he now loves. His decided and paramount incli- 
nation is to serve, to obey, and to glorify God, instead 
of surrendering himself to the world and to sin. His 
" delight is in the law of the Lord after the inward 
man," and on that law he meditates with unfeigned sat- 
isfaction — " esteeming all its commandments concerning 
all things to be right." There is implanted in him such 
a hatred of sin that he loathes it in all its aspects, re- 
nounces all the habits in which it had predominated, arid 
abstains from all the indulgences to which it had allured 
him ; and in short it becomes the ruling desire of his 
heart, and the unceasing pursuit of his life, that he may 
be " perfect as a man of God, and thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works." 

And the change which all this implies, is such as to 
baffle every effort of his own independent power : be- 
fore it commences, he has no wish that it should take 
place, nor when it begins is he able of himself to carry 
it on : if left to himself, he would remain forever "in the 



SER. 4. SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



143 



gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." It is the 
power of the Almighty which is employed to create him 
again. He, who at first " moved upon the face of the 
waters" to reduce the dark and void, and formless mass 
to order and to beauty, puts forth his energies on the 
chaos of the sinner's soul, to rescue it from darkness, 
and tumult, and misrule — to make it the habitation of 
light and life — and to consecrate it as a fit temple for 
the worship, and service, and enjoyment of that God 
whose presence filleth all in all. Such is the native re- 
bellion of his heart, that it cannot be overcome but by 
the Spirit of the Most High. Such is the difficulty of 
making him a willing and obedient subject to the divine 
government, that it must be surmounted by an arm 
which is resistless. Such is the difference between 
mere partial ameliorations of character, and the grand 
spiritual renovation of which our text speaks, that, while 
the former may take place in a thousand cases by the 
exercise of natural strength, and even by the impulse of 
unworthy motives, the latter cannot be accomplished, 
even in a single case, without the application of omni- 
potence — without the contrivances of infinite wisdom — 
without the influences of a holiness which belongs to no 
created being. Surely, then, we must conclude, that 
the moral change which a man undergoes when he be- 
comes a new creature, must be no light matter — no 
trivial concern ; it must be worthy of that agency which 
is set in motion to produce, and to mature it ; it must 
be of vast magnitude — of incalculable importance — of 
indispensable necessity. 

3. Now, let me state, in the third and last place, 
that " being a new creature," and " being in Christ," 
are inseparably connected. 

It is amazing and melancholy how sinners deceive 
themselves in respect to this point. They admit the 
truth of the proposition now stated ; but then, they so 
treat and they so apply it, as to acquire a notion of their 
own safety which the real facts of their condition and of 
their character will, by no means, warrant. Some, who 



144 



SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. SER. 4. 



have altered their moral conduct for the better, in cer- 
tain points, which arrest the attention, and secure the 
favorable testimony of their fellow-men, infer from this, 
that they are " in Christ," and are consequently entitled 
to count on their eternal salvation as secure. Others, 
again, think that they are " in Christ," because they 
have assumed his name, and professed his gospel, and 
are ready to defend the truth of his religion ; and then 
conclude that they have certainly experienced the re- 
newal which is necessary, and are therefore quite fit for 
heaven, and sure of reaching it. And some, who be- 
long to the visible church of Christ, and can also point 
to the abandonment of what was immoral in their former 
practice, take advantage of both circumstances, and feel 
that they have a double title to congratulate themselves 
on the safety of their present state, and on the happi- 
ness of their future prospects. 

All who think and reason thus are laboring under a 
grievous delusion. Doubtless, whosoever is in Christ 
is a new creature, and whosoever is a new creature is 
in Christ. But, before you can rest upon such infer- 
ences as sound and legitimate, you must ascertain the 
reality of the facts from which you draw them : this you 
should be careful to do, by comparing your opinion 
of yourselves with what the Scriptures teach; and you 
should, on no account come to a favorable conclusion 
merely because it is pleasing and satisfactory, but only 
when you are authorized to do so by the truth of the 
case, as determined by the unerring word of God. 

You know what that word says respecting the nature 
and extent of the moral change implied in your being 
new creatures. Bring your character, then, to the test. 
See whether it corresponds with the character which 
inspiration delineates as comprised in, or as derived 
from a renewal of the mind — whether it is so deep as 
to comprehend your spirit and your principles — whether 
it is so unreserved as to leave no department under the 
dominion of sin — whether it is so universal as that " all 
old things are passed away, and all things are become 



SER. 4. SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



145 



new" — whether " old things" are deserted because you 
are conscious of a rooted dislike to them, on account of 
their inherent turpitude, their contrariety to God's will, 
their tendency to dishonor and to destroy your souls — and 
whether "all things are become new," — the principles 
on which you act — the motives by which you are in- 
fluenced — the ends and objects you pursue — the rules 
by which you are governed — the pursuits in which you 
find your comfort — the companions with whom you 
associate — the hopes by which you are animated. In- 
quire into the subject thus strictly, and thus thoroughly, 
and you will be able with little difficulty to discover, 
how far you are warranted to believe that you have 
an interest in Christ, and are partakers of his great 
salvation. 

But never forget, in the midst of all your investiga- 
tions, that there can be no new creation unless you be 
" in Christ" — unless you truly believe in him — unless 
you are united to him, by virtue of that faith which re- 
ceives him, and relies upon him, and submits to him as 
your Saviour. All spiritual blessings come from him. 
It is out of that sufficiency and fulness which it hath 
pleased the Father should dwell in him, that you are 
to derive whatever is needful to make you safe, or holy, 
or happy. And it is distinctly taught in the gospel record, 
that one purpose for which he gave himself to suffer- 
ing and to death, was your deliverance from the slavery 
of sin — your renewal after the divine image — your res- 
toration to that personal holiness, without which all 
other gifts are without meaning, and without avail. 
Now, this effect is to be produced by that alliance to 
him which faith constitutes and maintains, which makes 
you part of his mystical body, and which operates by 
drawing from him, as your spiritual head, that life of 
which you are naturally destitute, and the nourishment 
by which it is to be supported, and strengthened, and 
matured. Do not therefore imagine that you either are, 
or can be, new creatures, unless you are " in Christ," 
13 



146 



SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. SER. 4. 



as we have now described. There is such a thing as 
being " in Christ" by external profession, and external 
privilege. You may be thus " in Christ," as unfruitful 
and unhealthy branches are sometimes found in the vine. 
But you must be " in Christ" in another way, — even 
by becoming one with him, through the vital power of 
faith— just as the branches, which, being grafted into 
the true vine, not only send forth leaves, and exhibit 
blossoms, but produce good fruit in abundance. Out 
of Christ altogether, or " in Christ" only in name and 
appearance, you can have no life in your souls, and can 
do nothing that is good. It is only when you are "in 
Christ," according to the spiritual meaning of that 
phrase, that your heart can be renovated, that the old 
man can be exchanged for the new, that there can be 
a willing, an unreserved, a devoted consecration of your 
powers and affections to the service of him by whom 
you have been redeemed, and that, instead of being 
withered and barren, and fit to be cut down, and 
burned, you can flourish and grow up in the garden of 
the Lord, and bring forth plentifully those " fruits of 
righteousness, which are by Christ Jesus to the glory 
and the praise of God." 

Let sinners, then, who would turn from the evil of 
their ways and live, be impressed with this great truth, 
that there is no redemption for them, which does not 
embrace the renewal of their minds and characters; 
and that this is no more to be obtained than pardon and 
reconciliation, except through the cross and the Spirit 
of Christ, [t is by Jesus that they must be turned 
from their iniquities. They must be " created again 
in Christ Jesus unto good works." And therefore, 
let them flee to Christ, and embrace him, and cleave 
to him, by a living faith. And let believers, while they 
give thanks to the Redeemer by whom they have been 
made new creatures, remember, that it is by the same 
Redeemer that they are to be maintained in the regen- 
erated state into which he has brought them, and that 



SER. 4. SPIRITUAL RENOVATION. 



147 



their sanctification is to be carried on till they are ripe 
for immortality. Let them, therefore, be exhorted to 
live continually by faith in Christ ; to have recourse to 
him, at all times, as the fountain of moral purity ; and 
to apply with " all prayer and supplication in the 
Spirit," for those communications of his grace, which 
shall strengthen what is weak, and perfect what is 
lacking in them, till they enter where " nothing that 
defileth" shall ever enter, and become "partakers of 
the inheritance of the saints in light." 



J 



SERMON 



V. 



THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. 

2 CORINTHIANS 3. 12. 

" For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our con- 
science, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not 
with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have 
had our conversation in the world, and more abun- 
dantly to you-ward" 

Were I to put the question to any one. What is it that 
you rejoice in as the ground of your hope and confi- 
dence towards God ? and were he to answer, The tes- 
timony of a good conscience, — I should not merely 
stand in doubt of that person, but maintain that he was 
building on an unscriptural and insufficient foundation, 
and that the whole superstructure he had erected upon 
it would be destroyed in the great day of the Lord. 1 
All that you have done, my friends, and all that it is 
possible for you to do, will never amount to a justifying 
righteousness ; for " by the deeds of the law," you are 
assured, " that no flesh living can be justified." The 
only ground of hope and confidence towards God, that 
you are warranted, or that it is safe for you, to rest 
upon, is the righteousness of the Redeemer, which is 
not only perfect, in its nature and extent, but divinely 
appointed, and divinely held forth, as alone adequate 
to that important purpose. Whatever be the attainments 



SER. 5. THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. 149 



you have made, and whatever the progress you may 
be competent to make, in obedience to the law of God, 
it would be madness to rejoice in these, as if they had 
virtue to secure for you forgiveness and eternal life. 
And more especially, would it be madness, as you 
would be thereby neglecting a method of salvation as 
sure and efficacious as the word of omnipotence can 
make it. No : my brethren ; it is your safety, it is 
your duty, and it is your privilege, to " rejoice in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and to have no confidence in the 
flesh." 

But, then, it may be asked, is it an unlawful thing in 
any circumstances, or in any view, to rejoice in the 
" testimony of a good conscience ?" We cannot say 
so, when we look to the language of the text, and con- 
sider it as the language of an inspired apostle. Even 
though there had been no such express declaration on 
the subject, and though apostolic experience and ex- 
ample had been wanting, such rejoicing would have 
been justifiable on the obvious analogy, and essential 
doctrine, of Scripture. For " a good conscience," or 
" a conscience void of offence," is that which divine 
authority requires of us, and is a possession well-pleas- 
ing in the divine regard. And to know, or feel, that 
we have it, must be a source of satisfaction and happi- 
ness. It supposes us to be adorned with much that is 
amiable, much that is respectable, much that assimilates 
us to God ; and therefore, to derive no gratification 
from the fact, would amount to an insensibility to moral 
excellence, and would violate a settled and important 
principle in our moral nature. A good conscience 
moreover, can never speak the same language, nor ex- 
cite the same emotions, as a bad conscience : to derive 
happiness, therefore, from the approving testimony of 
the former, seems as unavoidable as to experience 
misery from the condemning sentence of the latter. 
But the words of the apostle, as descriptive of his own 
state of mind, supersede the necessity of all argument 
on the subject. For were the thing wrong, unsuitable 
*13 



150 THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. SER. 5, 



to the true Christian, or inconsistent with sound doc- 
trine, he and his brethren never could have indulged in 
it, as they are here represented to have done ; nor 
would they have recorded it, for the edification and en- 
couragement of others, as that which constituted any 
portion of their happiness. No person could be more 
humble than Paul, under a sense of natural depravity 
and actual guilt. No person could more distinctly and 
forcibly teach the doctrine of man's utter destitution of 
every thing on which reliance could be placed for taking 
away sin, and securing the divine favor. No person could 
hold forth Christ more singly and exclusively as the Sa- 
viour, in whom alone transgressors of mankind can find 
pardon, and peace, and blessedness. And no person 
could more fondly, more devotedly, more confidently, 
or more rapturously cling to Christ and him crucified, 
as all his salvation and all his desire. And yet he and 
his fellow-laborers, who were like-minded with himself 
on that all-important subject, declare, without any ap- 
prehension of being misunderstood, or of being account- 
ed heterodox, " Our rejoicing is this, even the testimony 
of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, 
not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we 
have had our conversation in the world, and more 
abundantly to you-ward." 

The two causes of rejoicing, therefore, must be per- 
fectly harmonious ; and both may operate without any 
interference of the one with the other, and without de- 
tracting either from the character, or from the safety, of 
the individual who is affected by them. 

This text may be considered, first, as applied to 
Paul. He had labored much in behalf of the Corin- 
thian church, with a view to instruct and confirm it in 
the faith of the gospel. And his labor had not been in 
vain ; for, through his instrumentality, and by the bless- 
ing of God, it exhibited many examples of unwavering 
belief, of sincere piety, of practical godliness, of invin- 
cible patience, of Christian consolation and joyfulness. 
But still there were not wanting some who requited all 



3ER- 5. THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. 



151 



that he did for its prosperity, with groundless prejudices, 
uncharitable suspicions, and ungenerous reproaches. 
He was spoken of, as if he had been actuated by mer- 
cenary or ambitious motives, and as if, under the guise 
of pious zeal, and spiritual benevolence, he had been all 
the while pursuing his own purposes of selfishness and 
aggrandizement. No species of treatment could be 
more offensive and galling than this. It wounded the 
best sensibilities of his heart. It tended to injure his 
reputation, and diminish his success. And had it not 
been counteracted by a consciousness of its injustice, as 
well as by superior influence, it must have gone far, not 
only to augment his present distress, but also to dis- 
courage his future efforts. And what was it that sup- 
ported and consoled him amidst the cruel surmises and 
bitter calumnies to which he was exposed, even from 
the men to whom he had been administering the bene- 
fits of Christianity ? It was the feeling and impression 
of his innocence. No doubt he was visited with the 
solacing and upholding communications of the divine 
Spirit ; but these would not have been vouchsafed, if 
he had been really chargeable with the base and worldly 
views that were imputed to him. And then to all the 
evils resulting from what he suffered, in consequence of 
the things that were alleged against the purity of bis in- 
tentions, there would have been added remorse and 
self-condemnation, for being in his own knowledge and 
conviction, the worldling, or the hypocrite, which his 
enemies reported him to be. But, instead of having 
such an intolerable aggravation of his outward trials, he 
had at once the negative consolation that he was falsely 
accused, and the positive and substantial consolation, 
which flowed from the witness of his own mind, that, in 
the sight of God, he possessed that uprightness of de- 
sign, and that integrity of conduct, for which he did not 
obtain credit with men. And the consolation thus 
afforded him, not merely soothed and sustained him 
when suffering from the ingratitude, the evil imagin- 
ings, and slanderous sayings of those who should have 



152 THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. SER. 5. 



known him better and loved him more ; it elevated him 
above the obloquy wherewith he was assailed — made 
him lightly esteem, or altogether forget, the afflictions 
that beset him — and, amidst evils that would otherwise 
have depressed him with sorrow, not only enabled him 
to rise superior to their influence, but filled his soul 
with gladness. He rejoiced in this, that he had the 
favorable " testimony of his own conscience," to set 
against the censures and accusations of ignorant, mis- 
judging, or malicious men. His conscience testified, 
that, in every period, and in every department of his 
labors, he had acted with " simplicity" — with a single 
desire to glorify his Redeemer, and benefit the souls of 
men ; — that he was not dissembling, with a view to im- 
pose upon his fellow-creatures, but had that " sincerity" 
which was produced and nourished by a sense of God's 
holy presence, and which constrained him to avoid 
every false and wicked way, and to speak, and to live, 
with the unfeigned purpose of doing what was right ; — 
that he was not governed by the " wisdom" which is 
concerned in providing for the "flesh," which seeks 
for carnal qualifications, which aims at worldly posses- 
sions, which has some sinister end to answer, even 
when professing to be devoted solely to spiritual pursuits, 
and to be wrapt in the contemplation of heavenly ob- 
jects, — but that, on the contrary, he was influenced and 
regulated by " divine grace," on which he humbly de- 
pended, for which he habitually prayed, and to which 
he cheerfully submitted, as that which alone could purify 
him from the corruption of his own heart, fortify him 
against the assaults of temptation, raise him above all 
those little considerations of fame, and power, and van- 
ity, and ease, by which even good men are too apt to 
be swayed, and render his " conversation honest in the 
sight of all men," by rendering it conformable through- 
out to the will of that God who requires " truth in the 
inward parts," as well as consistency and impartiality of 
obedience in the external conduct. And, while the 
apostle rejoiced in the testimony of his conscience, that 



SER. 5. THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. 153 



this had been his manner of life in general, while per- 
forming his official duties as a minister of Christ, he 
rejoiced, in a particular manner, that this had been his 
manner of life, especially towards the members of the 
Corinthian church. He had examined his heart, and 
his ways, during his intercourse with them — the doc- 
trine he had preached — the temper he had displayed — 
the conduct he had maintained ; and though, doubtless, 
he who confessed himself to be " less than the least of 
all saints," could not fail to be sensible of imperfections, 
and short-comings, and sins, yet of this he was con- 
scious, that he had not sought " theirs, but them" — that 
his heart had been animated by the single desire of do- 
ing them good — that, throughout his whole proceedings 
as their spiritual instructor, he had been guided by dis- 
interested views — that, in every part of his behavior to- 
wards them, he had abundantly manifested a self-deny- 
ing spirit — and that he could meet every suspicion, and 
every asseveration, of an opposite description, with an 
appeal to Him who saw into his heart, and who knew 
that he "lied not," when he declared his innocence of 
those unworthy sentiments which they so ungratefully 
and illiberally laid to his charge. And, being con- 
scious of all this, " he rejoiced" — he bore their calum- 
nies with a patient and undisturbed mind ; and he was 
moreover glad, because, trusting in the merit of his Re- 
deemer for acceptance, he could also, from " the testi- 
mony of his conscience," look up to God, through 
Christ, for his approbation, and forward to heaven for a 
reward of those services to the Corinthian church, 
which divine grace had enabled him to render, and in 
regard to which his motives were suspected, and his 
character traduced. 

And it is well for ministers of the truth, I now ob- 
serve, secondly, to bear these facts in remembrance. 

While we, my friends, are exerting ourselves for the 
welfare of our fellow-men — whether it be for their spir- 
itual instruction, or for their temporal comfort, — it is 
not unlikely that we may experience the same unthank- 



154 THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. SER. 5. 



fulness on the part of those whose interests we are pro- 
moting, which the apostle experienced — that we may 
have our views and feelings misrepresented — that our 
most benevolent and useful actions may be ascribed to 
vanity, ostentation, thirst for applause, or some other spe- 
cies of self-seeking— and that such may be the treat- 
ment given us by the very persons to whose advantage 
we have been most liberal and unwearied in con- 
tributing. All this I need not say, must be extremely 
galling and disheartening — not only painful to our feel- 
ings, but apt to make us grow weary in well-doing. 
And, that we may be comforted under this trial, it is 
essential that, like the apostle, we have "the testimony 
of a good conscience." If the insincerity, or worldly- 
mindedness, or impure motives, in which it has been 
whispered or declared that our conduct has originated, 
have indeed had a place in our minds, then every 
spring of consolation is dried up ; and to what we suffer 
from the reproaches of those whom we have been be- 
friending, there is added the bitter reflection, that in 
truth, we deserve all that we suffer. To guard against 
this, nothing will avail us, but that in every thing we be 
conscious of acting with " simplicity and godly sincerity ; 
not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God." 
And, conscious of this, though we cannot be wholly in- 
sensible to the base and wicked returns made to us by 
the objects of our bounty, we need not and we shall 
not, be immoderately cast down. We have been doing 
good " as unto the Lord, and not unto men," and there- 
fore we cannot lose our reward. We have " the wit- 
ness in ourselves," that, whatever failin-gs and faults may 
cleave to us, in this case we have been walking up- 
rightly before God, as the disciples of Jesus Christ. 
He approves; and that is an infinite recompense for all 
the censures that may be heaped upon us by uncandid 
observers or malicious and ungrateful slanderers. He 
will give us support and encouragement in our labors of 
love, from which neither ingratitude, nor obloquy, should 
ever induce us to desist. It may even please him to 



SER. 5. THE TESTIMONY OP CONSCIENCE. 155 



vindicate our character, and " bring out our righteous- 
ness as the noon day," At all events, we have Him for 
our friend, while we have but men for our foes ; and 
assuredly he will in the end, he will for ever, put an end 
to the detractions which have accompanied our doings 
upon earth, by pronouncing upon us the sentence, and 
exalting us to the place, of " good and faithful servants" 
in heaven. And in the " testimony of our conscience," 
telling us such truths, connected with such views, and 
pointing to such an issue, we cannot fail, to whatever 
extent we may be visited with the evils which afflicted 
the apostle, like him, to have joy and rejoicing. 

But though the text must be thus applied in a pecu- 
liar sense to Paul and to all who are similarly circum- 
stanced, we now observe, thirdly \ that it may also be 
applied to the general character and experience of every 
Christian. The fact holds, not merely as to the trial 
here especially referred to, but to the whole range of 
Christian duty. When our conscience testifies, that, in 
any thing whatever, we have done well, in that we are 
permitted, and entitled, and called upon to rejoice. 
This is not only agreeable to the laws which gov- 
ern our moral nature, and by which a connexion is 
established between conscious rectitude and conscious 
satisfaction, but it is in strict accordance with experi- 
mental Christianity : it arises from the relation in which 
our good works stand to our spiritual safety; and it is 
recognised in the statements and examples of holy writ. 
We must never indeed forget, even for a moment, the 
principle with which we introduced this discourse, that 
in regard to our title to eternal life, we have no ground 
of rejoicing but the righteousness and sacrifice of Jesus 
Christ, received and relied upon in the exercise of hum- 
ble, implicit, undivided faith. But in conjunction with 
this principle, we ought also to remember, that wmatever 
constitutes a part of salvation, or tends to satisfy us that 
salvation is ours, must proportionally and necessarily give 
us joy. Now personal holiness is one of the benefits 
which Christ has secured for his people : we cannot 



156 THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. SER. 5. 



therefore have that holiness without rejoicing in. it. 
Great and delightful is the privilege of being guided and 
influenced by divine grace ; can we then be conscious 
of walking in the ways of righteousness, without rejoic- 
ing in that which is a practical proof that the grace of 
God has been given to us, and not given in vain? The 
Bible tells us that we are "justified by faith," and that 
» faith without works is dead if the works, then, 
which demonstrate the reality of our faith, and conse- 
quently of our justification, abound in our practice, can 
we refuse to rejoice in them, and in the conclusion to 
which they point? Finally, as holiness enters essen- 
tially into our meetness for heaven — the great and ulti- 
mate object of our hopes and expectations — we cannot 
fail to rejoice in every testimony to our holiness, when 
with that testimony is connected the conviction that we 
are in possession of the first fruits of that eternal life 
which God has promised to bestow, on all who seek it 
by " a patient continuance in well-doing." 

Now, my friends, you see in the whole of this state- 
ment, nothing that should impress you in any measure 
or respect, with the idea of your having anything meri- 
torious whereof to boast, or that should have the least 
effect in drawing away your trust and your affections 
from Christ. On the contrary, whatever is morally 
good in you, is represented as derived, not from your 
independent energies, but from divine aid, and from that 
alone ; and all the rejoicing in it which you are war- 
ranted to feel, is to be traced exclusively to the finished 
work of " the Lord your righteousness, and your 
strength." Considering the virtues which you practice 
as a part of salvation, or as an effect of grace, or as an 
evidence of faith, or as a qualification for heaven, still, in 
every case, they are traced to the operation and merits 
of the great Mediator. Viewed in these lights, and in 
these relations — the only lights and relations in which 
they ought to be viewed — they leave you " unprofitable 
servants," miserable sinners, and by affording you satis- 
faction merely as pointing to Christ, as centering in him, 



SER. 5. THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. 157 



as deriving all their value from him, as nothing what- 
ever, excepting in so far as they may be traced to him, 
they direct your regards to him as the foundation of all 
your hope, as the bestower of all your peace, as the 
source of all your joy. And to this conclusion we must 
come, not in spite of, but in conformity to, all that has 
been said, respecting the consolation and the gladness 
that spring from "the testimony of a good conscience," 
that " you must rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
have no confidence in the flesh." 

But, that you may have the rejoicing which the apos- 
tle experienced, that it may be a rejoicing on sufficient 
grounds and a rejoicing which no man can take from 
you, you must attend to these few particulars : 

First, While your rejoicing arises from the testi- 
mony of your conscience, you must be careful that your 
conscience be well informed. We know that the apos- 
tle's conscience was of this description ; for he had been 
taught by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and taught 
miraculously, not only that he himself might be an emi- 
nent believer, but that he might be an accredited teacher 
of others in all things pertaining to the doctrines of the 
gospel, and the duties of the Christian life. But, 
though the extent of your knowledge may not be equal 
to his, still it is necessary for you to have knowledge, as 
far as it can be attained. Labor, therefore, to acquire 
correct and extensive and connected views of divine 
truth, by perusing what he and the other inspired writ- 
ers have been moved by the Holy Ghost to indite, for 
the edification of the church ; meditate upon what you 
thus read, with seriousness and diligence ; and pray for 
illumination from above, to accompany the instruction 
which you derive from the written word. In this way, 
your conscience being fully enlightened, and duly alive 
as to all that God requires you to do and be, it will give 
neither a mistaken, nor a hurtful testimony : on the con- 
trary, it will lead you to cultivate that deportment which 
accords with the spirit and the precepts of the gospel ; 
and while it permits you to rejoice, it will afford you 
14 



158 THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. SER. 5. 



a pledge that your rejoicing is warranted, by the testi- 
mony of Him who is " greater than your conscience, 
and who knoweth all things." 

Secondly, Be anxious to have all your motives pure. 
You may be distinguished by many outward virtues, 
which are agreeable to the letter of the divine law, and 
which will secure for you the approbation and applause 
of those who witness them, and especially of those who 
are profited by them. And yet, I need not tell you, 
that, if they proceed not from right principles, they are 
destitute of all real value ; they neither are an evidence 
of your interest in the Redeemer, nor can they have 
any effect in qualifying you for heaven ; to rejoice in 
them therefore, would be to rejoice in worthlessness and 
vanity. Your great concern must be to have your 
hearts purified from the love of sin, and imbued with the 
love of holiness — to have established within you those 
truths, and those views, which God has sanctioned as 
alone worthy to regulate the conduct of his people — 
and on every occasion to give to them their full opera- 
tion, in preserving you from sin, and in stimulating you 
to duty. This will secure the conduct, which, what- 
ever appearance it may wear in the eyes of men, or 
whatever bearing it may have on the interests of those 
who are affected by it, is acceptable to God through 
Jesus Christ — which your own conscience will ap- 
prove — and which will authorize you to comply witfh 
the invocation of the Psalmist, "Rejoice in the Lord, 
and be glad ye righteous ; and shout for joy all ye that 
are upright in heart." 

Thirdly, See that your character be consistent and 
uniform. It is not an insulated deed of virtue or of 
charity, which will afford ground for " the rejoicing tes- 
timony of a good conscience." The deed of virtue 
which stands by itself, is not, in truth, a Christian virtue 
at all. An action, to be truly virtuous, must stand as- 
sociated with virtue of every description; and what- 
ever legitimately gives birth to a rejoicing couscience, 
must form a constituent part of that aggregate of excel- 



SER. 5. THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. 159 



lence, all of which proceeds from a divine source, and 
all of which is necessary to lead to a heavenly consum- 
mation. If your conscience dictate one holy action, be 
assured it will dictate every other ; and it will not ap- 
prove of one, if the rest be wanting, nor will it give any 
sanction to the joy you may feel on account of that one. 
It is requisite that this be the testimony of your con- 
science, not that you have been righteous, and benevo- 
lent, and sincere, in one or two instances, but that you 
have been so in the general course and tenor of your 
deportment ; that you have had your " conversation in 
the world" accommodated throughout to the law of God, 
and pervaded by the spirit of true religion. Surrender 
yourselves, therefore, wholly to the service of the Re- 
deemer ; withhold nothing which he exacts ; indulge in 
nothing which he prohibits ; let it be your great concern 
to please him in all your ways ; and thus, " exercising 
yourselves to have always a conscience void of offence 
both towards God and towards man," you will be pos- 
sessed of an inward " testimony," with which will be 
abundantly connected the " rejoicing," in which the 
apostle so freely and exultingly indulged. 

Finally, Never forget that all this must proceed from 
" the grace of God." To this the apostle refers in the 
text ; and we can never be too often reminded, that " of 
ourselves we can do nothing," nothing truly good or ac- 
ceptable. Unless, therefore, you have direction and as- 
sistance from on high, your best attainments will be 
meagre, and your best efforts fruitless. Let me exhort 
you, then, to distrust yourselves, and to look to Christ, 
as both your " righteousness and your, strength." Study 
to do all things in his name, and in his might. Cast 
yourselves upon his management, that he may " guide 
you by his counsel;" upon his righteousness, that you 
may find favor with God ; upon his grace and spirit, 
that he may " sanctify you wholly." And, if thus He 
be to you " wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifica- 
tion, and redemption," then are ye " complete in Him," 
and your " rejoicing" shall be full, and rapturous, and 
everlasting. 



SERMON VI.* 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 

JOSHUA, XXIV. 15. 

" And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose 
you this day whom ye will serve" 

" Seem evil unto you to serve the Lord !" How can 
the service of the Lord seem evil to any one who is not 
either wholly void of understanding, or altogether har- 
dened against religious impressions ? Were I to put the 
question to you, my friends, if you deem it " evil to 
serve the Lord," is there one of you, old or young, who 
would not instantly and decidedly answer in the nega- 
tive ? And were I again to ask you, if you did not' 
think it good rather to serve the Lord, would not you 
all reply, as with one voice, in the affirmative, and ac- 
knowledge that to do so must be your duty, your hon- 
or, and your happiness ? Well, then, are you prepared 
to say, with a good conscience, that you are in fact 
serving the Lord ? 

By some of you, I doubt not, an answer to this 
inquiry also may be returned ; for of some of you, I 
doubt not, it may be truly affirmed, that, redeemed by 

* Preached for the Edinburgh and Leith Seaman's Friend Society' 
T V Y™ r & e ' s Chuf c h ; Edinburgh, on the evening of Sabbath, the 11th 
April, 1830. 



SER. 6. THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 



161 



divine mercy, and with that price which the Son of 
God paid for your ransom — released from those bonds 
by which you were naturally held in slavery, and 
brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God, 
you are now devoted to the Lord, doing his will upon 
earth, and looking for the recompense which he has 
promised to his servants in heaven. 

But I fear there are others of you of whom so much 
cannot be truly affirmed. You may, indeed, be flat- 
tering yourselves that you are the servants of God. 
You may be offended if we deny that this is your char- 
acter. And you may point to m£hy things which you 
regularly and habitually do, in proof that we are mis- 
taken. You are not avowed unbelievers, but sober and 
uniform professors of Christianity. You abstain from 
all the more flagrant of those offences which the divine 
law forbids ; and you perform all the more important 
of those duties which the divine law enjoins. You 
come punctually to the house of prayer, and engage, 
with every appearance of devotion, in the various ex- 
ercises of the sanctuary. You are kind and faithful to 
your friends. You are just and honorable in your deal- 
ings with the world. And there are many to bear 
witness to your deeds of sympathy and beneficence. 

Now all this may be, so far, a correct view of your 
deportment. Still more virtues might have been in- 
cluded in the catalogue. Your character may shine 
with still greater brilliancy, and be possessed of still 
greater respectability and worth. And yet all that it 
exhibits does not amount to any satisfactory evidence 
that you are " serving the Lord." On the contrary, it is 
quite compatible with your serving Mammon — with your 
" serving divers lusts and pleasures" — with your serving 
" the creature" in many of those various forms which 
it assumes and wears as the object of attachment. Re- 
member, my friends, that the service of God is exclu- 
sive. It does not admit of interference, or of compe- 
tition, or of divided homage. It deserves — it demands 
— and it must have — the whole man. If it be accom- 



162 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. SEE. 6, 



panied with a deliberate or habitual withholding of the 
time, the talent, the affection, the activity—any of the 
offerings which God claims for himself as the great 
Supreme, it is deprived of its characteristic principle, 
and may as well be denominated the service of any 
other master. He is Lord over all ; he is entitled to 
your unqualified and unreserved submission ; whatever 
you do, it must be done in conformity to his will, and 
in subservience to his glory ; this is a right which 
eternally inheres in him, and which it is impossible for 
him to alienate ; and, therefore, when you indulge in 
any thing which implies a disregard of God's sove- 
reignty, and disobedience to God's commandments, and 
violation of God's honor, you are guilty of that which is 
inconsistent with the devotedness of heart and life, which 
must ever distinguish those by whom he is truly served. 
It is of no consequence how many things you do, which 
are literally and formally prescribed by his authority, 
if yet there be other things with respect to which his 
authority is either not recognised or directly contradict- 
ed. For, in that case, his dominion over you is, with 
your own consent, encroached upon by objects to which 
you owe no allegiance, and to which you cannot pay it, 
without refusing to Him what is due upon a ground 
which it is not for the most exalted intelligences that 
surround his throne to occupy — a ground which it is 
not competent even for the universe to share with him 
— a ground which he alone possesses as the all-power- 
ful and all-perfect Being who made you, to whom you 
owe all that you are, and all that you possess, and all 
that you can do. 

And this holds true even where your conduct does 
not involve a plain and manifest transgression of any 
part of the decalogue. To convict you of being 
unfaithful to God's service, it is not necessary that 
you be chargeable with some specific crime, or with 
some course of immorality. Something much less 
heinous in its nature, and much less striking in its as- 
pect, will answer the purpose. From the spirit and 



SER. 6. THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 



163 



manner in which you engage in the pursuits of lawful 
business — from the sort of amusements and recreations 
to which you betake yourselves, the time that you waste 
upon them, the expense at which you indulge in them 
— from the liking which you cherish, and the attention 
which you practically give, to any thing whatsoever 
connected with the world or things created — from these 
it may be seen, that the ascendency over you is pos- 
sessed, not by God alone, but by something else, with 
which he neither can, nor will, share his governing pre- 
rogative ; and that, consequently, the service which, 
in other points, you may imagine you are rendering to 
him, is a service only in name and in fancy — a service 
in which the works of his own hands, or the gifts of his 
own bounty, or even the enemies to his own sway, are 
put upon a level with himself — a service, therefore, of 
which he does not approve, and which he will never 
reward. His requisition to each one of you is, " Give 
me thy heart.'' He requires your heart — your whole 
heart — your heart with all its principles, and disposi- 
tions, and sensibilities. And if your heart be thus sur- 
rendered to him, the conduct, which is but a demon- 
stration of its influence and actings, will exhibit, in all 
its departments, and in all its bearings, a single regard 
to his will and glory ; so that you will addict yourselves 
to nothing which is at acknowledged variance with 
these, and even your most innocent pursuits will be in 
subserviency or in subordination to them. And they 
who, with the eye of holy observation, watch you as 
you are occupied in the various employments, and as 
you pass through the various scenes and vicissitudes of 
life, will perceive, that, wherever you are, and what- 
ever you do, all your works constitute and are referable 
to one service — that you " serve the Lord, and that you 
have no other gods but him." But, should there be 
one particular course of action, however inconsiderable 
it may be deemed, and however harmless it may be in 
its effects upon others, in which you are chargeable 
with forgetting God, or with opposing him, that affords 



164 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. SER. 6. 



proof unquestionable, that He is not reigning in and 
over your heart — that there prevails, and is cherished, 
a hostile authority at the very seat and source of all 
acceptable homage — that the seeming excellencies by 
which you are distinguished are nothing better than 
tributes which you pay to public opinion, or to selfish 
ambition, or to outward necessity— and that, with all 
the profession, and all the appearance, of serving the 
Lord, it is the melancholy and undeniable fact, that 
other masters have been allowed to usurp his place, and 
are holding their unrighteous dominion over you. 

Nay, but moreover, think my friends, what it is to 
serve the Lord, as believers in the gospel of his Son. 
Without this belief, which you profess to cherish, not 
only is there no salvation for you hereafter, but there 
can be no such thing here, as your serving the Lord 
acceptably. You are placed under the dispensation of 
the gospel. You are not entitled to contemplate God, 
except in the light in which he has been pleased to re- 
veal himself. And all the regards that you offer to 
him, must be in compliance with the principles which 
he has laid down, and the claims which he has pre- 
ferred, as " the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." The service which you render, must be the 
service you owe him as a redeeming God. It must 
imply a fulfilment of those obligations under which, in 
that capacity, he has laid you. And it must stand in a 
just relation to that future recompense which he has 
taught you to expect from " Him whom he has ap- 
pointed to judge the world in righteousness." 

Now, if you have been redeemed ; if you have been 
taken from under the curse of the law, rescued from 
the bondage of corruption, delivered out of the hands of 
your spiritual enemies, brought into a state of peace and 
reconciliation with God, and made heirs of his heavenly 
kingdom ; and if this be your faith, your feeling, and 
your experience, think you that there is aught in the 
wide universe that can rightly interfere between you 
and Him who has thus saved you, or to which you can 



SER. 6. THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 



165 



yield even the smallest portion of that obeisance, all of 
which, though it were infinitely greater than it ever can 
be, he has so graciously, and so dearly, purchased ? 
What has the devil, or the world, or the flesh done for 
your emancipation from sin and wretchedness ? Have 
not they wrought — are not they working perpetually, 
for your continuance in that miserable state into which 
the fall has brought you ? Is it not one of God's pur- 
poses — one of the benefits of that freedom which the 
Saviour has accomplished in your behalf, to destroy 
their tyrannical and pernicious domination over your 
souls ? And how then can you listen to their sugges- 
tions, or be guided by their influence, without despising 
the deliverance which must be unspeakably precious to 
you, or not precious at all ; without refusing to pay that 
debt of gratitude which you have contracted to him, 
from whose unmerited and rich mercy it has all pro- 
ceeded ; and without virtually declaring your prefer- 
ence of that degrading and destructive servitude out of 
which he has brought you, to the spiritual liberty, and 
the celestial hopes, into the possession of which he has 
introduced you by the sacrifice of his beloved Son ? 
If the redemption with which God visited the Israelites, 
when he " brought them out of the land of Egypt, and 
out of the house of bondage," furnished Joshua with a 
powerful and conclusive argument for their entering into 
a covenant to " serve the Lord only, and to serve him 
fully ;" how potent, how persuasive, how overpowering, 
must the argument be, to constrain you to consecrate 
yourselves to his service, when you consider the re- 
demption which he has accomplished in your behalf, 
and of which he makes you the abundant, though un- 
deserving partakers — a redemption embracing the wel- 
fare of your never-dying souls, and commensurate with 
the duration of eternity ? You are " not your own"— 
you are God's — " you are bought with a price," and 
therefore bound by the most sacred and endearing ties, 
to " glorify him in your bodies and in your spirits which 
are his." And being thus the property of God — being 



166 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. SER. 6. 



his by the right of purchase — a purchase dictated by 
ineffable love, made at a costly rate, and issuing in glo- 
rious and permanent results to you who are the subjects 
of it, what room is there left for the demands of any 
created being on your reverence or submission, apart 
from his or contrary to it? And how can you be his 
servants, while there is a single feeling of your heart, or 
a single action of your life, willingly devoted to any 
other claimant on your obedience, whose wishes or 
whose exactions he has not seen meet to sanction ? 

Now, my friends, apply this test to yourselves. It is 
no doubt a strict and searching one. But it is scriptural 
and true. Apply it to yourselves, and say if it does not 
ascertain, beyond all controversy, that there are those of 
you, and not a few, who do not " serve the Lord." Tn 
his external service, both as it respects the positive insti- 
tutions of religion, and the more prominent offices of 
morality, you may engage with great frequency and with 
seeming zeal. But, alas ! not to speak of those habits 
of thought and sentiment which our vision cannot reach, 
and of those manifold occupations which you hide from 
us w 7 ith the veil of secrecy and retirement, do not we see 
you every day giving yourselves to practices and to grat- 
ifications, which indicate any thing but the fear or the 
love of God, and which, if you will only make the at- 
tempt to reconcile them with his service, you will find 
to be not merely discordant with it, but utterly hostile 
to it, both in spirit and in letter. Those recreations and 
gaieties are sometimes dearest to you, which most unfit 
you for the duties of his Sabbath and his sanctuary, 
which banish from your mind most easily all serious con- 
cern about your present relation and your final respon- 
sibility to him, and which draw most largely on the re- 
sources with which he has supplied you as stewards of 
his bounty, for ministering to the relief of the poor, and 
the instruction of the ignorant. Sometimes, in the de- 
tails of your lawful calling, you act upon maxims 
which stand opposed to the declarations and dictates of 
his word, and prosecute your secular plans with an 



1 



SER. % THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 167 

eagerness which shows that you are looking no higher 
than temporal prosperity for your motive to industry ; 
that in your labors to accumulate wealth, or to provide 
for yourselves the meat and the gold that perisheth, you 
are careless about that blessing of his which alone 
" maketh truly rich and that you are willing to live as 
if he had given you nothing in trust, and had never said 
to you, " Occupy till I come." And sometimes, from 
the mode in which you perform what is even right in 
itself and commanded by God, we cannot help con- 
cluding that you are doing it, not " unto the Lord, but 
unto men," — not willingly or cheerfully, but with a re- 
luctant, grudging, discontented mind — not from the con- 
straining influence of those considerations which the 
gospel intimates and urges, and which are sanctified by 
their uniform reference to God, but with the sole view 
of advancing your secular interests, or of recommending 
yourselves to the favor and the patronage of your fellow- 
sinners. And do not suppose that the evil to which I 
allude is to be found only in such of you as manifest a 
glaring example, or a very offensive degree, of that con- 
trariety which subsists between those parts of your 
character that have the aspect of serving the Lord, and 
those other parts of it that neutralize these mistaken or 
hypocritical pretensions. It will be discovered in the 
case of every one of you, the tenor of whose life is not 
governed by the paramount authority of " thus saith the 
Lord who does not in small as well as in great things, 
study a scrupulous conformity to the divine will ; who 
obeys, when he does obey, God, in that cold and per- 
functory manner, which denotes the absence of all cor- 
diality, all cheerfulness, all delight in " running the way 
of his commandments who, in his inmost heart and 
least open transactions, does not set himself to be faithful 
and devoted, equally as in his external demeanor, and 
in his most undisguised and notorious deeds ; who has 
it not as the object of his fervent desire and his con- 
stant endeavor, to yield an unqualified, unresisting, 
undivided, free, and full subjection to the sway of Him, 



168 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 



SER. 6. 



whose he is by creating goodness, preserving mercy, 
redeeming grace, and who has laid him under obliga- 
tions of gratitude and obedience, which the mixed and 
imperfect dutifulness of his mortal pilgrimage can but 
barely acknowledge, and which all the sinless and lofty 
services of immortality will never be able to exhaust. 

To all such I would now address the exhortation of 
the text ; an exhortation justly applicable to them, and 
meriting their deepest and most anxious attention. 

1. In the first place, choose you whom you will serve, 
- — the Lord, or those idols which an evil heart of unbe- 
lief has substituted in His place. 

From what we have just now said, it may be con- 
cluded that you have already and actually made your 
choice. And doubtless, in one sense, this is true. 
Whatever you may think, there is in each of you a 
fixedness of character, resulting from the determinations 
of your own minds, which may be discovered by those 
who look at it in the light of divine truth, and "judge 
righteous judgment ;" which, at any rate, is clear and 
unambiguous to the eye of the heart-searching and om- 
niscient God ; and which will most certainly decide 
your destiny on that day which shall forever separate 
" between the righteous and the wicked, between those 
who serve the Lord and those who serve him not." 

You may allege, that it does not " seem evil to you 
to serve the Lord." And, speculatively, as we have 
already remarked, this may be true ; but, really and 
practically, it is false. You think, you feel, you act, as 
if it did " seem evil unto you to serve the Lord." 
There is a latent repugnance in your minds to his ser- 
vice. There is an embodied hostility or indifference to 
it, in your every-day doings. There is a real devoted- 
ness to those whom you ought not to serve, which is 
essentially and irreconcileably inconsistent with a real de- 
votedness to Him whom you ought to serve. Two mas- 
ters, so opposite as the one is to the other in this case, 
you cannot possibly serve ; and, from the claims and the 
character of the true God, and from the claims and the 



SER. 6. 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 



169 



character of those false gods which men's wicked pas- 
sions have created for themselves, it is evident, that, if 
you serve them, you cannot serve Him. And the idea 
that you are submitting to His sway, when you are, in 
fact, their slaves, merely because you reject the atro- 
cious saying, that it is " evil to serve the Lord," and 
are not disinclined to do many things included in that 
service, is all a delusion, which, however long it may 
last in this land of self-deception and shadows, must 
inevitably be broken when God " brings every secret 
thought into judgment, and gives to every man accord- 
ing to his works." 

Now, it is our wish that this delusion, so sad and so 
fatal, under which you labor, should be broken before 
the day of retribution comes. We are anxious that your 
eyes should now be opened to see the folly and the 
danger in which you are involved — that your hearts 
should now be undeceived, as to the real position in 
which you stand — that your purposes should now be 
directed towards that object, on which alone they can 
be rightly and safely fixed — that your feet should now 
be turned away from the path of error and of ruin, and 
guided into " the narrow way that leadeth unto life." 
You have been " halting between two opinions we 
are desirous that you should embrace one of them, and 
that you should abide by it. You have been trying to 
amalgamate two systems : we are desirous that you 
should abandon the one, and cleave to the other. You 
have been taxing your ingenuity to serve two masters : 
we are desirous that you should confine your labors, 
and your attachments, and your duties, to one of these, 
and that you should forsake the other without lingering 
and without reserve. We are desirous that you should 
adopt this decided mode of proceeding, because it alone 
is wise and safe. And imagine not, that, when we ex- 
hort you to make your choice, we mean to insinuate, 
that, on whatever side of the question your choice may 
fall, it will be well for you, either in time or in eternity. 
In exhorting you to make your choice, we proceed on 
15 



170 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. SER. 6. 



the conviction, and the certainty, that the one alternative 
is life, and that the other alternative is death — that 
either heaven or hell must be the result of the option 
which you are called to exercise. But we give the ex- 
hortation, that your attention may be directed to the 
fallacy of your conduct, and to the perils of your con- 
dition ; that you may no longer attempt to compromise 
what no power in heaven or on earth can ever make to 
agree ; that you may be led to look steadily and impar- 
tially at all the merits of the case, as to which you have 
been hitherto most dangerously indifferent and remiss ; 
that you may compare the course you have been pur- 
suing, with what the word of God has told you of your 
spiritual and moral obligations ; that you may find out 
the necessary and immeasurable difference, between 
"serving the Lord," and living as you have been ac- 
customed to do ; and that, setting the one over against 
the other, you may behold, in the contrast which is pre- 
sented to your view, what should effectually constrain 
you to cease from the unlawful service in which you 
have hitherto employed your faculties, and attach your- 
selves exclusively and devotedly to that holy and gqd- 
like service, from which it stands at a vast and unap- 
proachable distance, both in the sight of God, and in 
the destiny of man. 

" Choose, then, whom ye will serve." If folly be 
permitted to direct you — if dishonor have any charms 
in your regard — if insensibility to infinite goodness, or 
defiance of almighty power, be esteemed by you a vir- 
tue — and if you wish that everlasting destruction should 
be your end, — then choose to serve sin — to serve Satan 
— to serve the world — to serve whatsoever would tempt 
you to ungodly actions, or to criminal indulgence ; for, 
most assuredly, of this service it may be truly said, that 
its labors are debasement — its joys, madness — its wages, 
eternal death. No, my friends, you cannot, you will 
not, choose such a service as this. " Choose, then, 
whom ye will serve," — and " choose the Lord." His 
service is the highest glory of your nature — the most 



SER. 6. 



THE 



christian's CHOICE. 



171 



perfect liberty of rational and moral beings — tbe surest 
and most fertile source of inward comfort and outward 
prosperity. It is sweetened by the saving mercy, and 
animated by the gracious help of Him who prescribes 
it, and to whom it is rendered. It is the work of the 
Divine Spirit, operating on the subjects of his regener- 
ating power and his sanctifying agency. It is the fruit 
of that offering of Himself, by which Jesus Christ ex- 
piated our guilt, and thus " purged our consciences 
from dead works, that we should serve the living God." 
It exalts those who are enabled to perform it, to an 
alliance with the ministering angels on high, and links 
them to the throne of the Eternal. And, whatever may 
be the toils, and the trials, and the sorrows, with which 
it is connected, or of which it is productive upon earth, 
it has the divine promise of present support and conso- 
lation suited to all such exigencies, and of a reward in 
the heavenly world, whose richness no tongue can 
utter, and no imagination conceive. 

" Choose the Lord" then as the King, the Master, 
the Saviour " whom you will serve." Make a cove- 
nant with him in your hearts, that no other shall receive 
your homage. Look into his word, and have recourse 
to it as the directory which is to guide you in all your 
endeavors to please and to honor him. Let your minds 
dwell habitually on the tenderness with which he has 
pitied, and redeemed, and called you. Resist every 
allurement which would make you either remiss or un- 
faithful, in the work he has given you to perform. Pray 
to him for the pardon of those offences and short-com- 
ings which accompany your best and purest acts of sub- 
mission to his authority, and for that strength which he 
alone can impart for " upholding 'your goings in his 
ways, that your footsteps slide not." Study fidelity to 
him in the least, as well as in the greatest, of the duties 
which he requires from you — in the most sequestered, 
as well as in the most public, of those scenes in which 
he appoints you to labor for his cause. Let every 
movement you make in obedience to his command, or 



172 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. SER. 6. 



in promotion ofhishonor,be animated by the spirit of love, 
invigorated by the exercise of faith, and enlivened by a 
sense of his kindness, who enjoins and who requires it. 
And be ever looking forward to the recompense which 
awaits you in the kingdom of the just, that you may be 
cheered amidst all your difficulties and discouragements, 
and stimulated to still greater activity, and trained to 
still greater patience, in doing and in suffering all his 
holy will concerning you. 

But some of you, perhaps, though satisfied of the 
wisdom of the exhortation, and of the necessity of fol- 
lowing it, are unwilling to make your choice immedi- 
ately, and would rather continue a little longer that 
mixed and compromising service in which God and 
Mammon have been equally the objects of your 
regard. 

2. To all such I would, secondly, address the ex- 
hortation, " Choose ye, this day, whom ye will serve." 

Having acknowledged that you have been in error, — 
gross, grievous, and perilous error, — why should you 
delay forsaking it? Is not this to belie your own pro^- 
fessed convictions ? Is it not. deliberately to prefer the 
wrong to the right — the hazardous to the safe— the 
miserable to the happy ? Is it not to bargain with God 
— for the exhortation, though addressed to you through 
the medium of his servants, proceeds from Himself — is 
it not to bargain with God, as it were, to permit you to 
remain somewhat longer out of his household, and to 
indulge yourselves somewhat longer in that which of- 
fends and dishonors Him ? And the compensation you 
offer is that having obtained this concession from the 
great and holy Being, from whom, after all, it is impos- 
sible you can really hope to obtain it, you will then re- 
turn to Him from whom you should never have depart- 
ed, and yield to Him that obedience which you should 
never have withheld. O how can you justify or ex- 
cuse yourselves for making such a proposal, or attempt- 
ing such a species of procrastination. It is adding sin 
to sin— folly to folly — peril to peril. 



SEE.. 6. 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 



173 



" Choose you this day whom you will serve 5" and 
instead of hesitating, as if you might still snatch another 
pleasure before you renounce your connexion with the 
world, account " the time past, as far more than suffi- 
cient to have wrought the will of the flesh." Wonder 
at the forbearance of God in not making you long since 
a monument of his righteous anger against the unholy 
and impenitent. And let your experience of his 
sparing mercy awaken in you such shame, such grief, 
such repentings for having so obstinately kept away 
from him, and so ungratefully requited him, as that you 
will feel it to be unpardonable guilt to delay for another 
moment casting yourselves into the arms of his com- 
passion, and going to " work in his vineyard." 

" Choose you this day whom you will serve ;" because 
the sooner that you enter on God's service, in its full 
import, the sooner will you consult the dignity of that 
rational nature which he has given you, and which you 
have been hitherto degrading, by keeping it in the 
bondage of moral corruption ; the more will you con- 
sult the obligations which you owe to him as your ben- 
efactor, and your Saviour — obligations which no cir- 
cumstances can ever weaken or annul ; and the more 
will you consult your comfort and well-being, as inhab- 
itants of the scene which you now occupy, and in which 
the fear of the Lord, and the keeping of his command- 
ments are as contributive to the happiness of a present 
life, as they are essential to your preparation for a fu- 
ture and a better. 

" Choose you this day wmom you will serve ;" because 
to delay the change which a right choice implies, will 
be the means of rendering it more difficult in the end. 
The habits which at present control you in your pur- 
poses of reformation, and indispose you for the execu- 
tion of them, will grow gradually stronger as you ad- 
vance in your wayward career. And the same deceit- 
ful arguments — the same delusive influences which are 
now prevailing over your convictions, will occur with 



174 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. SEE. 6, 



more insinuating address, and operate with more for- 
midable power, at every future period of your course. 

" Choose you this day whom you will serve for if 
you do not embrace the existing opportunity of de- 
voting yourselves wholly and heartily to God, which is 
your reasonable and bounden service, another oppor- 
tunity may never be afforded. Many things may hap- 
pen to prevent you from carrying your resolution into 
effect, even supposing, what is extremely doubtful, that 
your resolution is sincere, and ample, and decided. 
Engrossing worldly cares, agonizing disease, helpless 
debility, mental alienation, may put an interdict on your 
best designs, and exclude you from any farther partic- 
ipation, even in that imperfect and defective service, in 
which you have been so long and so vainly confiding. 
And death itself may come upon you at an unexpected 
moment, and suddenly remove you to that dread reck- 
oning, which will make no account of the purposes that 
you formed, and delayed to fulfil ; which will rather 
pronounce it to be an aggravation of your guilt and 
of your doom, that you knew what was good, and con- 
tinued to do what was evil — that you determined to 
serve God, and yet continued to serve his enemies till 
you should be pleased to exchange their service for his, 
and that thus you treasured up for yourselves, amidst 
the obvious warnings of his providence, and amidst the 
confessed workings of his grace, a larger measure of 
that righteous indignation, which he has threatened to 
pour out on all those who " will not have him to rule 
over them," or who "serve the creature more than the 
Creator." 

O be wise, then ; and " choose this day," this very 
day, whom you will serve. Give yourselves to God — 
give yourselves to God wholly — give yourselves to God 
now, and give yourselves to God forever. 

To such of you as have already made your choice, and 
have chosen " the good part," I would now address 
myself. And perhaps you may think, that I have been 
neglecting you, and occupying myself too exclusively 



SER. 6. THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 



175 



with those of a different and opposite character. But 
if you will give scope to your Christian feelings, my 
apology for acting thus will he obvious and sufficient. 
Let there be but " one sheep" that has gone astray, 
and is wandering at a distance from the good Shep- 
herd, and on the eve of perishing, have I not great 
authority for leaving the " ninety and nine" and going 
forth to seek for that solitary wanderer, if haply I 
may find him, and bring him back in safety to the 
fold which he had left, that there may be joy on earth, 
and that there may be joy in heaven. And alas ! may 
it not be presumed, even with the utmost stretch of that 
" charity which hopeth all things and believeth all 
things," that, instead of one only, there are many in 
this large assembly, to whom the service of God is 
still a strange or a distasteful work, and who in affec- 
tion and in practice have joined themselves to idols, and 
are in bondage to the world and to sin ? And surely, 
my Christian friends, you cannot grudge any efforts that 
may be made by the ministers of the gospel, to awaken 
such from their spiritual slumbers, to rouse them to an 
alarming sense of their condition, to reclaim them from 
the paths of guilt and ruin, and to bring them to that 
Saviour who bled for their souls, who weeps for their 
infatuation, who has commissioned us to beseech them 
to be reconciled, and who calls upon them from his 
throne on high to repent, and believe, and live. You 
know the misery of that state in which they are now 
living, for you have lived in it yourselves. You know 
the safety, and the comfort, and the happiness of being 
redeemed from it, and becoming the servants of him 
who paid the ransom ; for you possess and feel, what 
you would not exchange for a thousand worlds. And 
it is a first lesson of the grace that has brought you this 
salvation, a first fruit of that delightful experience, 
which is so precious to you, that your compassions go 
forth upon them who are still far from God, and far 
from righteousness ; that you supplicate the Father of 
mercies in their behalf, that you withhold no aid and 



176 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 



SER. 6. 



refuse no exertion, which may be blessed as an instru- 
ment for emancipating and saving them. Instead, 
therefore, of murmuring that I have done what I could, 
to persuade them to choose the service of God, to the 
utter and eternal abandonment of all other services, I 
trust that your secret, but fervent prayers have gone 
along with every argument I have urged, with every 
expostulation I have used, with every threatening I 
have held out, with every invitation I have given, to 
prevail upon the apostate sinners who are beside you, 
and among you, and around you, to hasten away from 
all that has been hitherto ensnaring their hearts, or 
binding them over to the debasing drudgeries, and the 
unreal joys, of a moral despotism, to come into that 
liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free, and to 
consecrate their all to the will and to the glory of a 
Master who, as he has given himself for their ransom, 
will impart to them his Spirit for their help, and confer 
upon them immortality for their reward. 

And I trust that your sympathies will accompany me,' 
as I bid you take a wider range, and not cease from 
your prayers and your exertions, while there is a human 
being within your reach whose heart rests upon the 
creature, and whose return you may encourage to the 
worship and service of the great Creator. Alas ! what 
multitudes are there upon the face of the earth who are 
daily " bowing the knee to Baal," — who are doing 
homage at the shrine of Mammon — who are "led cap- 
tive by Satan at his will" — who are eager and indus- 
trious, in doing whatsoever their unholy passions bid 
them, and who either know not God at all, or only ren- 
der him that obedience which can be spared from the 
obedience of the " other lords" who have acquired the 
mastery over them. Here is a field of spiritual benev- 
olence on which you may expatiate w T ith ceaseless 
interest, and toil with ceaseless activity ; and it is your 
duty, as the servants of Christ, to cultivate it according 
to your talents and your means and your opportunities, 
that you may not be wanting in what you owe at once 



SER. 6. THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 



177 



to your merciful Redeemer, and to your perishing 
brethren. 

I call your attention this evening to a class of men — 
your fellow-subjects, your neighbors, — whose situation 
demands your kindness and your care ; and I plead 
with you in behalf of an Institution which is laboring 
affectionately, diligently, and successfully for their high- 
est and most enduring interests. The Edinburgh and 
Leith Seaman's Friend Society must be already well 
known to you, for it has existed for many years : it has 
carried on its meritorious work at your very door, and 
under your very eye : it has frequently appealed to you 
for support, and has received it ; and no one has pre- 
tended to doubt that its efforts have been both wise and 
vigorous, and that it has been honored, under the bless- 
ing of Heaven, to confer signal benefits on that inter- 
esting part of the population whom it has taken under 
its guardianship, and visited with its mercy. It cares 
for their temporal comfort, and it cares for their eternal 
salvation. Its main object is to wean them from the 
service of sin, and to engage them in the service of 
God. And while for this purpose, it studies to separate 
them from the temptations to profusion and intemper- 
ance and idleness, to which they might otherwise be too 
much exposed, and by which they might otherwise be 
too easily overcome, it strikes at the very root of all 
the mischiefs that beset their lot and surround their 
path, by a moral machinery which provides them with 
saving knowledge, which goes to penetrate their hearts, 
and to imbue them with the principles and spirit of the 
gospel, and which teaches, and encourages, and stimu- 
lates them to seek for their happiness in the favor of 
God, in the exercises of piety, in the practice of holi- 
ness, in the hope of heaven and immortality. I could 
dilate with pleasure on its various means of elevating 
their character, and improving their condition — means 
which were wont to be thought of with indifference, or 
treated as the subjects of wonder, of merriment, or of 



178 



THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. SER. 6. 



idle pity. I could tell you of the tracts which it circu- 
lates — of the Bibles which it distributes — of the edu- 
cation which it imparts — of the ordinances which it ad- 
ministers— of the visits of Christian love which it pays 
— of the numberless offices of kindness by which it en- 
lightens, and comforts, and animates the objects of its 
constant solicitude. But I need not occupy your time in 
such discussions. You are already acquainted with the 
character and merits of this establishment. Its directors 
deserve every degree of confidence you can repose in 
them. Its funds need to be replenished by the bounty 
of a generous and Christian public. Its prosperity 
will, in some good measure, depend upon the supply 
which it this evening receives from the audience that I 
now address. It throws itself upon your charity. And 
I am sure you will not willingly mar its usefulness, or 
disappoint its expectations, by withholding what the 
providence of that God whom you and it are united in 
serving, has enabled you to bestow. O think of the 
seaman, embarked upon the dangerous deep — exposed 
to the furious tempest, or to the unwholesome climate, 
or to the thousand perils which surround him' in his 
adventurous course. If, by the protection of Him who 
rules over all, he escape these multiplied hazards, and 
come back in safety to his native shore and his beloved 
home, what a blessing for him to find, that, while he 
himself has gone and returned in the faith of that 
Saviour in whom he has been taught to believe, and in 
a depend ance upon that Almighty arm on which his 
once godless soul has been taught to lean for guidance 
and protection, his wife and his little ones have been 
learning the same lessons, and practising the same vir- 
tues, and enjoying the same peace. And if he be fated 
never more to revisit that domestic circle which he left 
in sorrow and in hope, and with all the yearnings which 
are known only to the heart of a seaman-husband and 
a seaman-father; if it be the will of that God whom he 
loves and serves, that he should be the victim of a fatal 



SER. 6. THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE. 



179 



shipwreck — the vessel his coffin, and the ocean his 
grave — O what a precious consolation to him to recol- 
lect, as he sinks in the remorseless waters, that he does 
not leave his widow disconsolate, nor his orphans un- 
protected — that they are in the hands of Christians, 
who love their souls, and will not abandon them to ig- 
norance, oppression, or destitution — and that he is going 
to that blessed and peaceful region, for whose mansions 
they also are training, and amidst whose blessedness 
they and he shall meet again, and dwell, and rejoice 
forever ! 



SERMON VII.* 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 

MATTHEW xxv. 35, last clause. 

"Iwas a stranger and ye took me in" 

There is a certain class of people who not only build 
their hopes of salvation upon their own personal righteous- 
ness, but who even restrict that righteousness, as the foun- 
dation of their hopes, to acts of benevolence. And when 
we remonstrate with them on the presumptuousness, and 
the danger, of such an idea, they quote, in support of 
it, the passage of which my text forms a part, and ask 
triumphantly whether it be not a clear and irrefragable 
proof, that, if we abound in deeds of kindness to the 
poor, the afflicted, and the oppressed, we shall have 
boldness in the day of judgment. 

Now, to those by whom such a sentiment is, in any 
degree, maintained, I would address a few remarks, 
tending to show that it is altogether without countenance 
or sanction from the word of God. 

In scripture, it is by no means uncommon to annex 
the attainment of future happiness to the exercise of a 
particular grace. Of this fact I could give you a mul- 



* Preached in St. George's Church, Edinburgh, 18th December, 1828, 
when a collection was made in behalf of the Spanish and Italian Refugees, 
at the request of the Lord Provost and Magistrates. 



SER. 7. CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



181 



titude of examples, were it necessary. But if the opin- 
ion I am supposing you to entertain be correct, as to 
almsgiving, it must be equally correct as to all the other 
graces of Christianity, which are placed in a similar 
connexion. Why fix upon this, and neglect the others, 
since they and it have the same common authority ? 
For what good reason should not any one of these be 
the ground of expectation and assurance, as well as 
that which you have particularly selected for the pur- 
pose ? If you are to obtain a sentence of acquittal, in 
consequence of being beneficent to the needy and the 
wretched, why may not a sentence of acquittal, result 
as well and as certainly from your godliness, or your hu- 
mility, or your justice, or your patience, or your purity, 
or any other single feature of the Christian character? 

The truth is, that the scriptural statement, when cor- 
rectly apprehended, is perfectly consistent with itself, 
and is founded in the very nature and reason of the 
thing. It does not mean, that, if you have any partic- 
ular virtue, and no other, you shall be admitted into 
heaven ; for, truly, the possession of but one insulated 
virtue will appear to us impossible, if our ideas of holi- 
ness be taken from the gospel. According to the gos- 
pel scheme of morality, every genuine virtue must be 
the fruit of a regenerated heart, and must be practised 
under the influence of right principles and motives. 
But if the heart be indeed regenerated, and if the con- 
duct be indeed governed by right principles and mo 
tives, then there will be a cordial disposition, and a 
habitual endeavor, to obey the will of God in every 
thing. And, on this account, whenever a particular 
virtue has the promise of eternal happiness attached to 
it, we are to regard it as co-existing with all its kindred 
virtues, though they be not specifically stated, and as, 
in fact, the representative of the whole character, though 
it be not mentioned as holding that station. If, there- 
fore, any one build his prospects of future blessedness 
on his alms-deeds, we say to him, in strict conformity 
to his own general principle, " It is true you abound in 
16 



182 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



SER. 7. 



alms-deeds, but if you are sincere in this duty, as en- 
joined by God's will, you cannot fail to be diligent in 
the discharge of all other duties. A pure fountain can- 
not send out a transparent stream on one side, and a 
polluted stream on the other. If the heart be changed, 
and sanctified, and swayed by a holy influence, this 
influence will work its proper effects in every depart- 
ment of the life. And, we ask you, are you spiritually 
minded — are you clothed with humility — are you just 
in your dealings — are you patient under trials and pro- 
vocations — are you devoted to God ? If you are not 
characterised by these things, as well as by that, of 
which you boast so much, and in which you trust so 
securely, then you can no more look for heaven, than 
the man who strictly observes the eighth command- 
ment, but disregards every other part of the decalogue." 

Even all the moral virtues together, will not answer 
the purpose for which so many seem to think almsgiving 
exclusively sufficient ; for, if condemnation and ac- 
quittal are severally allied to the possession and to the 
want of these, the very same thing may be said of faith. 
Of faith, scripture speaks thus: "He that believeth on 
the Son of God is not condemned ; but he that be- 
lieveth not, is condemned already." Christ, we are 
told, will come at the last day, to be " glorified in his 
saints, and admired of all them that believe." And 
then his people shall " receive the end of their faith, 
even the salvation of their souls." Now, why may not 
we assume for faith, that very place, to which some ad- 
vance the practice of the moralities and charities of life, 
as to its effect upon our future destiny ? There is just 
as much scriptural warrant for putting the one, as there 
is for putting the other, into that connexion. And, 
were we to adopt the same line of argument in both 
cases, it would be at least as idle to censure those who 
rest their hopes for judgment upon " faith without 
works," as it would be to censure those who depend 
upon " works without faith." That such notions should 
be held and acted upon by either, is a proof that they 



SER. 7. CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



133 



have not considered the scripture doctrine on this sub- 
ject, or that they have not understood it. 

The great and distinguishing character of the gospel 
is, that it is a message of grace to sinful and ruined 
man — a method of redemption, devised for creatures 
who cannot redeem themselves — a plan of restoration, 
for the benefit of those who, by transgressing the law 
of God, have incurred its penalty, and who have no 
ability in themselves either to atone for what is past, or 
rightly and acceptably to obey for the future. To sup- 
ply these radical defects in our spiritual condition, a 
Saviour is revealed who is mighty to deliver us. And 
how do we become interested in the benefit resulting 
from his interposition ? Not, surely, by works ; for the 
insufficiency of our own doings to obtain justification 
before God, is the very reason why a divine Saviour is 
necessary, and why a divine Saviour is sent. But, ac- 
cording to the express language of the Bible, it is " by 
faith." Christ is " set forth as a propitiation for our 
sins, through faith in his blood." He is " the end of 
the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." 
"To as many as received him, to them gave he power 
to become the sons of God, even to them that believed 
in his name." " God so loved the world, that he sent 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but might have everlasting life." 
Faith, then, is the only medium through which the 
Saviour and the blessings of his salvation can be- 
come ours. 

But, if it be asked, whether, consistently with this 
statement, our good deeds be essential to our appearing 
before God in judgment, we answer, certainly they are. 
For, though we are not under the law as a covenant of 
works, we are still under it as a rule of conduct. And 
obedience to it is still requisite, not merely in submis- 
sion to the Supreme will, but as a test and evidence of 
our faith in the Redeemer, and as a qualification for 
the happiness of heaven. And we are to be judged 
" according to our works," because this accords most 



184 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



SER. 7. 



with the nature of a general judgment — the practical 
effects of dispositions and feelings being more tangible 
and obvious, than the dispositions and feelings them- 
selves; and because, if the general course of our life 
has been evil, this will show not only that we have 
sinned, but that we have also perversely refused to re- 
pent, and to accept of a Saviour ; while, on the other 
hand, if the general course of our life has been good, it 
will show that our rebellion has been succeeded by 
penitence and faith ; and, moreover, because our deeds 
being good or evil, will demonstrate our fitness for that 
place of happiness, or of misery, into which the sen- 
tence of our Judge shall send us, and exhibit the fullest 
proof, which assembled myriads can require, that all 
his awards, of suffering, and of blessedness, are the 
dictates of infinite mercy and unimpeachable justice. 

Nor is it difficult to perceive why charity has been 
selected, as that branch of moral excellence upon 
which the Judge will ostensibly found his final decree. 
Charity is the fruit of love to God, and is "shed abroad 
in the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost." It is 
of the operation of true faith, and giyes the most satis- 
fying evidence of its reality and its power. " It is the 
bond of perfectness and the fulfilling of the law." Such 
being its high importance in the code of Christian mo- 
rality, we cannot wonder at the distinguished honor 
that is to be put upon it in the day of judgment. And, 
besides, while justice, in ah its forms, may be easily 
defined, and can be enforced by the authority and 
sanction of human laws, charity is of such a nature as 
not to be amenable to human jurisdiction ; it must be 
left, in its variety of- exercise and extent, to the dis- 
cretion of the individuals by whom it is practised ; and, 
consequently, wherever it truly and abundantly resides, 
it testifies, better than any other virtue can do, the ex- 
istence, the strength, and the dominion, of those great 
Christian principles, from which alone it can emanate, 
and by which alone it can be supported. 



SER. 7. CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



185 



With the same ease we can account for singling out those 
particular expressions of charity which are here speci- 
fied. We have already observed, that when any virtue 
is brought forward as terminating in everlasting life, it 
must be understood to be practised in its genuine nature, 
and full latitude ; and whenever it is so practised, it is 
of course accompanied by every other virtue. And, 
this being the case, any one virtue will substantially an- 
swer the purpose as well as another. But as, for the 
reasons we have assigned, there is a peculiar propriety 
in fixing upon the grace of charity, in general, so there 
appears to be a peculiar propriety also in fixing upon 
those instances of it, in particular, which are here ad- 
duced ; because the occasions of them are of every 
day's and every hour's occurrence ; they have nothing 
of the splendid or the magnificent to recommend them ; 
they are the minute offices of kindness to the destitute 
and the distressed which do not make a figure in the 
eye of the world, but are continually called for ; they 
are demanded by the feelings of common humanity, as 
well as by the sentiments of Christian compassion ; and 
he who neglects them has, beyond all controversy, no 
pretension to moral excellence, while he who performs 
them with the tenderness, the activity, the diligence, the 
minuteness, which are here so pathetically described, 
affords a demonstration that he has the faith of the gos- 
pel, for "it worketh by love," and thus "loving his 
brethren whom he hath seen," we conclude, and are 
satisfied, that he also " loveth God whom he hath not 
seen ;" and therefore is meet for the services, and the 
enjoyments of that better state in which his Judge shall 
assign him his everlasting portion. 

It may, perhaps, be stated as an additional reason for 
our Saviour's choosing these modes of charity, as his 
example, that they are precisely such as the exigencies 
of his followers would peculiarly require. Of them, 
and of their circumstances, he never failed to think with 
the kindliest interest, and the warmest affection. He 
was aware of the hardships and persecutions to which 
*16 



186 CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. SER. 7. 



they were to be subjected, after his departure. He 
knew that hunger, and nakedness, and imprisonment, 
and sickness, were to be the evils of their lot, in conse- 
quence of their labors in his cause. Amidst such dis- 
tresses as these, they w T ould stand in the utmost need of 
sympathy and assistance. And the exercise of such 
sympathy, and the communication of such assistance, 
would be duties of imperative obligation upon all who 
are capable of feeling the one, or of rendering the other. 
So that, having these thoughts fully in his view, and 
strongly impressed upon his mind, it is neither an im- 
probable supposition, nor a refined speculation, that he 
allowed them to mingle in the account he was giving of 
the final judgment, and to influence, in one important 
particular, his delineation of that eventful scene. But 
though he may have had the treatment of his suffering 
disciples more immediately in his eye, yet the principle 
is of universal application, and embraces charitable con- 
duct, in whatever circumstances it may be required, 
and by whomsoever it may be maintained. 

Let me now say a few words on the importance and 
necessity of the charity which is here spoken of. 

A great deal of emphasis is laid upon it throughout 
the whole of Scripture. We cannot read almost a page of 
the sacred volume, without finding it inculcated in some 
form or other. And, indeed, so thoroughly imbued with 
it is the whole system of our faith, that every one, who 
breathes the spirit of Christianity, breathes also the spirit 
of charity. The doctrines of the gospel constrain us — 
its precepts teach us — its examples encourage us — its 
promises animate us — to practise it. And, that nothing 
may be wanting to make us cherish it, as a constituent 
a prominent, a conspicuous, part of our character, our 
Saviour brings it forward in his description of the last 
day, as the great and decisive test of our meetness for 
the kingdom of heaven. If we have it, we shall re- 
ceive a sentence of acquittal, and be admitted into the 
joys and the glories of immortality. If we be destitute 
of it, we shall receive a sentence of condemnation, and 



SER. 7. 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



187 



be consigned to the regions of misery and despair. 
Think, my friends, of the extent of your demerit, if you 
go before the tribunal of God without it, that you may 
see how indispensably requisite it is to your safety and 
welfare. This demerit does not consist merely in your 
having shut your heart, and your hand, against the cry 
of the needy. That, of itself, would be sufficient to 
place you on the left hand of your Judge, because it 
would have been the violation of an explicit command- 
ment of the law of God. But it arises from the total 
absence of Christian principle and Christian sentiment, 
and the general and abiding depravity of mind, which 
indifference to the wants and the wretchedness of our 
poor brethren invariably indicates. From what we have 
already said, and from what you know, of the maxims 
and declarations of scripture, think you, that while har- 
boring such indifference, you can possibly have that 
" faith" in the Redeemer by which sinners are justified 
and saved ? — that there dwelleth in you the love of God y 
whom you are bound to " love with all your heart'' — - 
that you are under the direction and influence of the 
Holy Spirit, whose " fruit is in all goodness," and whose 
sanctifying grace is necessary to prepare you for heaven ? 
Think you, that any of the other excellencies of the 
Christian life adorn you, since they all spring from the 
same source, and are all held together by the same bond 
of union ? Think you, that you can have been " re- 
newed in the spirit of your mind," when you have not 
" put on bowels of mercies," and are still nourishing the 
hard-heartedness, and walking in the selfish ways, of 
the natural man ? Think you, that you have any thing 
about you of the temper and character of your divine 
Master, whose example is left for your imitation, and of 
whom it is truly said that " he went about doing good ?" 
Think you, that you are qualified for associating with 
" the spirits of the just made perfect," and for uniting 
with them in the pursuits and the enjoyments of that 
happy place, where " charity never faileth ?" And 
think you, that you are fit for appearing before Christ 



188 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. SER. 7. 



in judgment, when you have cherished this hard and 
unfeeling temper, in spite not only of his grace leading 
him, " though he was rich, to become poor, that ye 
through his poverty might be rich," but in defiance of 
the solemn warning which he gives, that, with regard to 
this very thing, he will call you to a strict and particular 
reckoning at the last day, and that he will reward or 
punish you, according as you are found to have observed 
or neglected the great duty of charity to the poor and 
the afflicted. 

Ah, my friends, it is no ordinary guilt that will attach 
to you, if you have been wanting in this respect. Just 
observe what an interest the Saviour takes in it. He 
identifies himself with his suffering and indigent follow- 
ers ; and the good and evil which are done to them, he 
will regard and recompense as done to himself. "In- 
asmuch as ye did it to the least of these my brethren, 
ye did it unto me." " Inasmuch as ye did it not to these 
my brethren, ye did it not unto me." I mention this, 
not to show the infinite condescension of Christ, (though 
such condescension may well shame the proud despisers 
of the poor, by demonstrating, how unlike they .are to 
the Master whom they profess to serve,) but to point out 
the aggravations of such misconduct, the guilt of those 1 
who commit it, arising not merely from their treatment 
of the poor, but from their treatment of Him, who is the 
Saviour of the rich and the poor together; for the doctrine 
of this passage plainly is, that if you withhold your hand 
from giving to them who are in need, and from reliev- 
ing them who are in distress, every pang you inflict by 
your neglect, or by your cruelty, even upon the lowest 
of your fellow-creatures, you virtually inflict upon the 
Redeemer and the Judge of the world : he feels it as a 
personal injury — it amounts to a practical rejection of 
him, and he will mark it as such, when he reckons with 
you at the last, and pronounces your final doom. 

But perhaps, while thus enforcing charity, I shall be 
told, that want of charity is not characteristic of the times 
or of the place, in which we live, and that exhortations to 



SER. 7. 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



189 



almsgiving are, at the very least, superfluous. I acknowl- 
edge, with unfeigned pleasure, the liberality which prevails 
among all classes of the people ; and I am confident, 
that in your contributions this day, we shall have an addi- 
tional proof of it, at once substantial and gratifying. 
' But among the most humane, there will always be found 
some to mingle, in whose breasts and conduct it is too 
much a stranger, and who need to be roused to a sense 
even of this duty, the most obvious, perhaps, of all the 
duties incumbent on the followers of Christ. The very 
circumstance of charity being so prevalent is not unlikely 
to be employed as a pretext for disregarding the claims 
of the needy, by those who give, without any distinct 
conception, or any lively feeling, of their obligations to 
cultivate that grace. And besides, the most established 
and experienced Christians need to be reminded from 
time to time of the grounds and motives of a duty, to 
violate which there are so many temptations in the nat- 
ural selfishness of the human* heart, in the incessant 
tendency that we all feel to pursue our own interests, 
and to seek our own gratifications, without regard to 
the interests and gratifications of others ; in those party 
jealousies and religious prejudices which too fre- 
quently arrest the current of beneficence; and some- 
times in the failings, and vices, and ingratitude of the 
individuals who have been the largest participators of 
our bounty. 

But there is something more important still to be sta- 
. ted. I am speaking, not merely for the sake of such as 
need your help, but for your own sake, and with a view 
to the improvement of your personal character, and to 
your fitness to appear at the bar of God. And for this 
purpose, let me remind you that it is not enough that 
you give, however liberally, to your necessitous breth- 
ren. By all means do this, for without it, yor can have 
no just pretensions to charity at all. But romember, 
that you have to do with God, much more than you 
have to do with man. Man receives your bounty, and 
he is benefited and relieved by it, whether you have 



190 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. SER. 7. 



bestowed it from worthy or unworthy considerations. 
But God sees the heart, and will accept of no service 
which does not proceed from that source, and which is 
not regulated by those views and principles which he 
himself has prescribed. And, we insist on this the 
more, because we are referring to the account you are 
hereafter to render. Important, indeed, and indispen- 
sable is the virtue of almsgiving; but important and 
indispensable though it be, that will not secure for it 
the divine approbation, nor render it a qualification for 
the heavenly state, in whatever form and spirit you may 
choose to exercise it. In the day of judgment, indeed, 
our sentence will be founded on the character of our 
works, as good or bad, and particularly upon that 
branch of moral conduct which is here specified. But 
then, it will be upon our works as connected with our 
inward views and dispositions. As every secret deed 
will be brought to light, and form a part of the account 
we have to render, so will every secret thought be made 
manifest — every principle upon which we proceeded — 
every motive by which we were actuated — every feel- 
ing and view which had any share in the government 
of our life and conversation. And upon these, much 
more than upon the external aspect, or literal meaning, 
or natural effects of our actions themselves, the fate of 
every one of us will then depend ; so that if our kind- 
ness to the poor has originated in nothing better than a 
desire to relieve our own feelings, by getting rid of their 
importunity, or. in a thirst for a good reputation among 
our fellow-men, or in the vain project of bartering our 
money for the kingdom of heaven, as if benevolence 
were the price of immortality, or in any other mistaken 
or corrupt sentiment whatsoever — upon what principle, 
I would ask, either of reason or of scripture, can we 
expect to be pronounced " the blessed of the Lord," 
and to be invited to "the inheritance of a kingdom 
prepared for us from the foundation of the world ?" The 
hope of the formalist, of the hypocrite, of the nnsancti- 
fied almsgiver, may accompany him through life, and 



SER. 7. CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 191 



go down with him to the grave, but when he appears 
before the omniscient God, who searches the heart, and 
judges righteous judgment, it perishes forever. Let us 
be careful, then, that we have the spirit, as well as the 
practise of charity — that we give with a willing mind as- 
well as with a courteous hand — that every benevolent 
deed we perform be the fruit of a lively faith, and thus 
contribute its part to that holy character which God 
requires us to maintain, and which will fit us for judg- 
ment and eternity. 

I have still to add, that the charity to which so much 
importance is attached, and which is held to be so abso- 
lutely requisite, with a view to future judgment, is dis- 
tinguished by its unwearied activity, and the constant 
and minute adaptation of its cares to the various neces- 
sities of those whom it endeavors to relieve, It is not 
enough to cherish compassionate feelings — to utter the 
language of sensibility and tenderness when we speak of 
the children of suffering and of sorrow — to address to 
them the common-places of sympathy, and say, " be 
ye warmed and be ye filled." We must communicate 
to them according to their need, and study to be substan- 
tially useful. It is not enough, that we bestow money 
upon those who need our aid, and who ask it, or that we 
confine ourselves to one species of benevolence, when 
it is in our power to indulge in many. We must " do 
good as we have opportunity we must " give alms of 
such things as we have and when we are obliged to 
say to the poor supplicant " silver and gold have I 
none," we must be ready to add, " but such as I have, 
give I unto thee." It is not enough that we minister of 
our substance to the destitute. We must not withhold 
our personal exertions, nor grudge our time, when these 
are necessary for carrying on the labor of love : We 
must " search out the cause that we know not and 
H go about doing good." Nor is it enough, that we be 
kind and helpful to those of our own kindred, or of our 
own sect, or of our own neighborhood. We must listen 
to the cry of nature, and to the admonition of the gos- 



192 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. SER. 7. 



pel, in behalf of all who stand in need of our beneficence ; 
extending it to the stranger who is cast upon our care, 
from whatever country he may come, and whatever 
form of worship he may have embraced, and even to 
those who, yielding to temptations from which we have 
been providentially delivered, have become the victims 
of their own folly, and are thereby involved in misfor- 
tune and penury ; for God " has made of one blood all 
the nations that dwell upon the face of the earth," and 
he " causeth his sun to shine upon the evil and the good, 
and his rain to descend upon the just and the unjust." 
All these things are comprehended in the language 
which the Judge will hold to the righteous, and should 
determine us to be active, and disinterested, and gen- 
erous, and unwearied, in promoting the relief of our 
poor afflicted brethren. " I was an hungered, and ye 
gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; 
I was a stranger, and ye took me in." 

"The Lord," says the Psalmist, "preserveth the 
stranger." This has been his memorial in all genera- 
tions. The stranger has ever been the object of his 
peculiar care, watched over by his providence, — ^pro- 
tected by his law, privileged by his mercy, recommend- 
ed and committed to the hospitality of his people. 
Under the Mosaic economy, strangers had particular im- 
munities granted to them. The Jews were enjoined, by 
special commandments, to show them kindness. Divine 
indignation was denounced against such as should treat 
them with cruelty or subject them to oppression. And, 
divine appeals were repeatedly made, to the sympathies 
of those among whom they dwelt, reminding them of 
the hardships and severities which they themselves had 
experienced in a foreign land. 

This minute guardianship of the stranger was the 
more necessary among the Jews, because they were 
chosen and separated from the rest of mankind ; the 
arrangements of that polity under which they were 
placed, were unavoidably of an exclusive character; 
and the natural tendency of the whole system was to 



SER. 7. CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 193 

render them reserved, and jealous, and illiberal, towards 
all who did not belong to their commonwealth. God, 
in his wisdom and in his mercy, did much to counter- 
act this spirit, by the declarations and the provisions to 
which I have alluded. But he did not neglect the 
safety and the comfort of the stranger,nor leave him with- 
out a token of his compassionate concern, even after the 
free and generous dispensation of the gospel was intro- 
duced. " The middle wall of partition being broken 
down" between Jew and Gentile — men of every kindred 
being invited to the faith of Christ and the hope of im- 
mortality — and those that accept of the invitation being 
taught to look on the whole family of mankind with the 
eye of benevolence and of kindliness, there was less oc- 
casion for any authoritative enactments, or any explicit 
precepts, in order to preserve the stranger from injury 
and contempt, and to secure for him what the helpless- 
ness of his circumstances might require. Yet, even 
thus favorably situated, we find him selected and 
marked out as an object of Christian regard. Not 
only does he share in those common sympathies, which 
we are taught to feel towards all our fellow-men, and 
practically to manifest, by an adaptation of our treat- 
ment to their various necessities ; but he is particularly 
specified, and pressed on our benevolent attentions, 
lest he should be overlooked amidst the multiplicity of 
those claims which are addressed to our charity, or de- 
spised as an intermeddler with those bounties to which 
our kinsmen, our fellow-citizens, and our compatriots 
have the first and strongest title. In the beautiful and 
affecting parable of the man who went down from 
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, we are 
instructed to consider every man as " our neighbor" 
however strange he may be to us as to his country or 
his creed, and however obnoxious to those resentments 
which ancient rivalships and recent provocations may 
have engendered in our minds. The precept given by 
an inspired apostle is, that we " be not forgetful to en- 
tertain strangers :" in which the combined influence of 
37 



194 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



SER. 7. 



affectionate exhortation and strict commandment is em- 
ployed to banish the suspicions and aversions with 
which we might otherwise look on these candidates for 
our pity and our aid — to make us think more of the 
ties by which a common nature and a common fate 
have bound them to us, than of the local distance and 
adventitious differences which have heretofore separated 
them from us — and to persuade us to receive them with 
such cordial feeling, and to treat them with such disin- 
terested kindness, as that, though w T e cannot charm 
them with the blessings and enjoyments of the home 
which they have .left, we may yet help them in their 
destitution, and cheer them in their sadness. And then 
our blessed Saviour assumes to himself the character of 
a stranger — enters into all his loneliness, and anxieties 
and griefs — gives him an identity of interests and of 
feelings with his own — declares that he will at last re- 
compense the good, and avenge the evil, done to him, 
as if they were done to himself — and thus invests him, 
as it w T ere, with the sacredness of his own person, and 
fences him round with the awful and affecting solemni- 
ties of eternal judgment. "I was a stranger, and ye 
took me in. — Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of 
these my brethren, ye did it unto me." — " I was a 
stranger, and ye took me not in. — Inasmuch as ye did 
it not to the least of these my brethren, ye did it not 
unto me." " And the wicked shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 

Need I say more, my friends, to bespeak your com- 
passion in behalf of the stranger, when all the pleadings 
of common humanity for him, are thus enforced upon 
your hearts by the instructions, the authority, and the 
example of your God and Redeemer ? No ; instead 
of requiring farther argument or entreaty, you will only 
wait, or seek, for cases in which you may practically 
indulge the compassion you have learnt to feel. And 
one of the most affecting and most urgent of these cases 
we this day bring before you. The Spanish and Ital- 
ian refugees are a class of strangers for whom we can 



SER. 7. CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



195 



confidently solicit your bounty. They have already 
excited public sympathy, and received public aid. And 
although, by the efforts of our benevolent countrymen 
in the South, their wants have been greatly relieved, 
and their sufferings greatly alleviated, yet their number 
is still so large, and their situation still so distressful, and 
their prospects still so gloomy and discouraging, that, 
knowing but a half of what they are doomed to endure, 
you cannot, be your affections ever so cold, and your 
habits ever so parsimonious, withhold from them your 
commiseration and your alms. 

Think of them merely as poor strangers. There is 
something melancholy and touching in the condition of 
a stranger, even when he is not reduced in his worldly 
circumstances, and in no danger of suffering neglect 
from those among whom he sojourns. But more mel- 
ancholy and touching by far is his condition, when he 
is visited with the thousand ills of poverty. Poverty by 
itself is pitiable ; but how aggravated are its pains, and 
how intolerable its burden, when it falls to the lot of the 
stranger — when the two calamities are united in dismal 
fellowship — when the individual who would have been 
made sorrowful by either, is overwhelmed by both ! 
Would not you pity such a man ? — Pity, then, the ref- 
ugees, whose cause I now plead, for they are poor 
strangers. 

But think of them also as strangers, whose poverty 
is the deeper, and the more cruel, in consideration of 
the state from which they have fallen. They were not 
previously accustomed to hardship or to indigence, 
which would have made their privations less keenly 
felt, and more easily borne. Sad and mournful is the 
contrast between what they were and what they are, 
which rises up to their recollection, and presses itself on 
their experience. They were men of rank — men of 
opulence — men of authority — men of education and ac- 
complishment — whose cup was full, whose mountain 
stood strong, who were not prepared for the bitterness 
of adversity, and never dreamed of coming ruin. And 



196 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. SER. 7. 



now, they have none of the comforts — they have scarcely 
the necessaries of life ; they have not even a roof to 
shelter them, nor garments to clothe them, nor bread to 
eat, except what is procured by the small pittance 
which they earn with the sweat of their brow, or the 
smaller pittance still which they receive from the hand 
of charity, that they, and their wives, and their^ little 
ones may not perish for want. And when you thus 
contemplate their fate — and when you look at it, and 
see it in the light of their former prosperity, — is it pos- 
sible that your souls should not be softened and melted 
into pity, and that, out of your abundance, you should 
not give liberally for the relief of their pressing wants 9 
and for the healing of their broken hearts? 

Think again of the causes which have sent them 
among you, in all the humiliation and misery of poor 
fallen strangers. They were driven from their own 
country. There was neither comfort nor safety for 
them there. The iron hand of despotism oppressed 
them. The terrors of persecution were arrayed against 
them. The suspicions of the tyrant and the priest fell 
upon them. And to escape the degradation, the im- 
prisonment, or the death that awaited them, they be- 
came exiles from the land that gave them birth, and 
from the scenes with which their earliest thoughts and 
tenderest feelings w T ere associated, and fled for protec- 
tion to a foreign shore. And need I say, that in pro- 
portion as you detest the spirit which cannot brook one 
sigh for freedom, one expression of liberal opinion, one 
effort to raise man above the level of a slave, by im- 
parting to him the benefits of useful knowledge ; and 
which is ever breathing out cruelty and slaughter against 
the objects of its hate, because they are the best friends, 
and the most zealous promoters, of the civilization and 
the happiness of our race ; in proportion as you detest 
that intolerant and desolating spirit, will you compas- 
sionate the poor fallen strangers whose cause I advo- 
cate ; for they are the victims whom it has sacrificed to 
its despotic and superstitious lusts, and they are made 



SER. 7. CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



197 



wretched and cast upon your benevolence, because it 
is rampant, sanguinary, and remorseless in its hostility 
to the cause of liberty and truth. 

And think, once more, of the testimony which these 
forlorn outcasts, these destitute strangers, have given to 
the character of our country, by throwing themselves 
so confidently into the arms of its protection. They 
had long been accustomed to admire its iudependence, 
its valor, its generosity, its moral as well as its political 
greatness ; perhaps in the secret musings of their hearts 
on that deliverance to which they aspired, and on the 
doubtful issue of that struggle in which they might one 
day engage, they turned their eye to it as the favorer of 
the free, and the refuge of the oppressed : and when 
the hour of trial, and discomfiture, and disappointment 
came, and in their own beloved homes — for home is 
dear even under a tyrant's sway — they could find no 
shelter from the storm of persecution, and no rest even 
for the sole of their foot, they came to us at once in the 
fulness of their sorrows, and in the fulness of their con- 
fidence, and doubted not to find their hopes realized in 
the sufficiency of our guardianship, in the warmth of 
our sympathy, and in the outgoings of our benevolence. 
And is it for a moment to be supposed, that you will 
frustrate, or mock, the expectations which they have so 
fondly cherished ; that you will discourage or crush the 
sentiments of reverence and affection with which they 
have regarded our nation ; that in the apathy with which 
you behold, or in the niggardliness with which you re- 
lieve their urgent necessities, you will send them away 
with the impression, that our fame is greater than our 
merit, and that, though you have bread enough and to 
spare, you grudge even a morsel to those who have 
come from afar, and are hungry and distressed, because 
they too fondly loved the distinction in which you so 
proudly rejoice ? This cannot be supposed : you will 
not be indifferent to their case ; you will not be stinted 
in your almsgiving ; you will not merely do as much, or 
give as much, as may save you from the charge of 
*]7 



198 



CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. SER. 7. 



cruelty ; but having your charity kindled into a more 
ardent flame, by the attestation which these poor 
strangers have given to the character of your country, 
and by the dependence which they have so freely, and 
so nobly, placed upon its virtue and its magnanimity, 
you will abound in the labor of love to which you are 
now called ; and give " as you have received of the 
Lord." 

" Be not forgetful to entertain strangers," says an 
apostle, " for thereby some have entertained angels un- 
awares." Expect not such an event literally — but you 
may expect the blessing which it implies. That ex- 
pression of charity to which you are now invited will be 
useful in many respects, on which, however, your time 
will not allow me to expatiate as I could wish. 

By engaging in it, you will assist in improving, liber- 
alizing, and exalting the national character — because 
you give exercise to that spirit of vital religion, of en- 
lightened philanthropy, and of generous freedom, in 
which its deeds of highest and purest worth originate, 
and in which its only true and permanent greatness 
consists. 

You also help to secure for your country the coun- 
tenance and favor of Him on whom the stability of its 
fortunes, and the growth of its prosperity, must ever 
depend ; for as he reveals himself to be the Preserver 
of the stranger, he must smile, with approbation, and 
surround, with a mighty and a gracious arm, that peo- 
ple who honor him by their acts of beneficence and 
tenderness to that class of his destitute offspring on 
whom he has bestowed so signal an evidence of his 
regard. 

And you will also add to the reputation and influence 
of your country — a reputation, grounded, not on achieve- 
ments of ambitious and bloody heroism, but on deeds 
which render man the brother, and the friend, of man, 
and which adorn communities as well as individuals, 
with solid and imperishable honors — influence, which 
resting in the gratitude of those who have experienced, 



SER. 7. CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. 



199 



and in the admiration of those who have witnessed, 
what is done for the stranger and the exile, will be suc- 
cessfully employed in the spirit of that mighty and en- 
larged benevolence which secured it, for advancing the 
interests of freedom, and civilization, and Christianity 
throughout the world. 

Finally, you will forward the improvement of your 
own character, and augment the happiness of your own 
destiny. Commiseration and kindness to strangers are 
essential parts of your Christian vocation. And, a bet- 
ter opportunity of practising these virtues you can 
scarcely hope to enjoy. Never omit an opportunity of 
doing good. The duty is laid upon you — perform it. 
The privilege is at your door — gladly embrace, and 
liberally use it. You may not know the heart of a 
destitute stranger in temporal things — but if you know 
it in spiritual things, the motive will be still more pow- 
erful and constraining. If you know what it is to have 
been once " an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, 
and a stranger to the covenant of promise," but to be 
now " a fellow-citizen with the saints, and of the house- 
hold of God," you will have a heart to feel, with ten- 
derest sympathy, for the strangers who now solicit your 
support; and you will be conscious of an irresistible 
impulse to do, for the bodies and the outward comfort 
of these poor aliens and exiles, what He has so merci- 
fully done for your souls. And when you put your 
hand into that store out of which you are to draw the 
supply that you intend for the oppressed, persecuted, 
destitute refugees, let your faith look forward to Christ 
as seated on the throne of judgment, and listen to him, 
as saying to the righteous, " 1 was a stranger and ye 
took me in. Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the 
least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me. Enter 
ye into the joy of your Lord." 



SERMON VIII. 



THE IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS EXAG- 
GERATED BY THE ENEMIES OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

1 TIMOTHY vi. 1. 

" Lei as many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name 
of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." 

It is objected to Christianity, which in my text may be 
considered as meant by " the name and doctrine of 
God," that many of those who profess to be regulated 
by its spirit and laws, instead of being better, are often 
much worse, than other men ; that pretending to adhere 
to it as a system of truth and righteousness, they yet 
frequently neglect or violate the duties of those rela- 
tions and conditions in which they are placed ; that 
servants, for example, as here particularly alluded to 
by the apostle, bearing the name of Jesus, do notwith- 
standing, act unfaithfully and disobediently ; that the 
same remark is applicable to individuals of every other 
class and station in civil society ; and that even some of 
the ministers of the gospel, who have studied it most, 
and should know it best, are themselves grievously ad- 
dicted to the follies and vices of the world. 



SER. 8. 



EXAGGERATED. 



201 



This objection, indeed, is seldom proposed in a for- 
mal way by the more honest and rational opponents of 
our religion ; because they could hardly do so, and at 
the same time hope to preserve their reputation as phi- 
losophers, or as men of sense. But the objection is, 
nevertheless, substantially contained, and artfully urged, 
in those sneering attacks which they delight to make on 
the character of misguided zealots, and in that ill-dis- 
sembled eagerness and affected regret with which they 
proclaim the failings of the righteous. It is employed 
as a triumphant answer to all our arguments in favor of 
Christianity, by the ignorant, the thoughtless, and the 
profligate, who are either incapable of reasoning, or 
unwilling to reflect deeply on the subject, and who form 
a large proportion of the unbelieving class of mankind. 
And it will frequently obtrude itself on the notice, and 
distress the feelings, of well-intentioned Christians, when 
they see the unsanctified deportment of those who call 
themselves by the name of the Saviour, and from whom 
they are naturally led to expect the brightest examples 
of piety and virtue. On these accounts, it may be 
proper to consider the objection somewhat particularly, 
that we may be satisfied how much reason our adver- 
saries have to be ashamed of it, and how very little 
reason we have to yield to its influence, or to be afraid 
of its effects on the issue of the great controversy in 
which we are engaged, as those who are " fighting the 
good fight of faith." In the present discourse, we shall 
confine our attention to a preliminary point, which is of 
considerable importance in its bearing on the question 
to be discussed. We maintain that the alleged fact, 
though too frequently realized, both in our own con- 
duct, and in the conduct of other professing Christians, 
is far less prevalent and far less formidable than it is 
usually represented to be. And this we shall endeavor 
to illustrate in a variety of particulars. 

1. In the first place, then, the persons by whom the ob- 
jection is adduced, seem, in many cases, to be influenced 
by a determination to censure, with or without reason, 



202 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 8. 



the conduct of Christ's professed followers. Whatever 
aspect we put on, and whatever deportment we main- 
lain, they must discover, or imagine, somethings which 
they may use as a pretext for personal reproach, and 
which they may ultimately level against the doctrine or 
principles that we hold. If we are grave, they accuse 
us of being morose and gloomy. If we are cheerful, 
then we are light and joyous spirits, having as little seri- 
ousness and as much wantonness as themselves. If we 
reprove them for the impiety with which they insult our 
ears, they traduce us as rude and officious zealots, who 
are strangers to the courtesy, and foes to the intercourse, 
of social life. If we find it expedient to overlook the 
profaneness or indecency of which they have been guilty 
in our presence, they instantly construe our silence into 
an approval of their licentiousness, and set us down as 
willing associates in their iniquity. If we engage in the 
pursuits of industry with vigor, or assert with firmness 
any of our temporal rights which have been unjustly at- 
tacked, they say we are covetous, and worldly minded, 
and love gain rather than godliness. If we exhibit in 
these things, any degree of sanctification and self-denial, 
then it is all a pretence ; we are driven by necessity, 
or influenced by ostentation ; and to the baseness of an 
avaricious spirit, we have added the odious vice of 
hypocrisy. In this way, and in various other respects, 
they criticise and misinterpret our character ; and every 
remark terminates, as might be expected, in a significant 
sneer at that religion, which above all others, was de- 
signed to make men virtuous and happy. 

That we are actually, and in many instances, treated 
in this manner by unbelievers, it may not indeed be easy 
to prove by any deduction of particulars. But the fact 
must have come within the experience and observation 
of every person who has ever mixed with the enemies 
of the gospel. And truly this conduct of theirs is neither 
unnatural nor unprecedented. It is not unnatural, for it 
corresponds exactly with their ignorance of our peculiar 
views, and with that ungenerous wish to subvert our faith 



SER. 8. 



EXAGGERATED. 



203 



from which it evidently proceeds, and which is seldom 
very scrupulous about the sacrifices that it will make to 
accomplish its object. And, it is not unprecedented, 
for it was long ago exemplified in the case of the Jews, 
who were pleased neither with the suitable austerity of 
the Baptist, nor with the condescension and familiarity 
of Jesus, and consequently entertained a prejudice 
against the gospel which proved fatal to themselves and 
to their country. " Whereunto," said Christ, " shall I 
liken this generation ? It is like unto i ehildren sitting in 
the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, 
we have piped unto you, and ye have not danced : we 
have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For 
John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 
he hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and 
drinking, and they say, behold, a man gluttonous, and a 
wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." 

With such adversaries as these, there is no contending 
with success : we have no chance with them ; for act as 
we please, let us be as holy and irreproachable as we may, 
they will so misconstrue what we say and do, as to con- 
vert good into evil, right into wrong, innocence into guilt ; 
and then, upon an invention of their own with respect to 
our behavior, they found a reproach against the re- 
ligion we profess. But even when they discover real 
faults in us, their mode of judging is still characterised 
by the same want of candor, for 

2. We remark, in the second place, that the fact 
which gives rise to the objection we are considering, is 
not unfrequently exaggerated, by the fault of an indi- 
vidual being transferred and imputed to the whole elass 
to which he belongs. If any Christian, especially one 
who is distinguished by religious zeal, or who holds a 
sacred office, yield to temptation, and act an unworthy 
part, the eye of our enemies is quick to discover, 
and their tongue eager to proclaim it. And, were they 
to confine their censure to the real offender, allowing 
that censure to be as severe as he deserves, though we 
could not, perhaps, admire its charity, we might not dis- 



204 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 8. 



pute its justice. But it generally happens, that they re- 
gard the maxims neither of charity nor of justice on such 
occasions. While they are merciless in the strictures 
which they direct against the individual, they wantonly 
confound the innocent with the guilty ; and by a sweep- 
ing indictment, charge his fault upon the whole of his 
Christian brethren. Upon his personal delinquency, 
they found a libel against men who never perhaps heard 
of his name; and who, while they might charitably la- 
ment, would yet scorn to patronise, his errors. "This 
is the way," they confidently assert, " this is the way in 
which Christians act : this is the way in which the min- 
isters of the gospel conduct themselves : this is a speci- 
men of the influence which that religion has upon its 
votaries." In these broad and universal terms, they 
make the fault of a single member, characteristic of the 
whole community to which he belongs; as if the respon- 
sibility of every man were not, in fairness and in truth, 
exclusively limited to his own conduct; or as if the in- 
visible church of Christ would authorize any one to be 
its moral representative. 

This, it must be allowed, is not a very accurate or 
candid mode of judging ; but it is extremely prevalent, 
with respect to the various professions of ordinary life, 
as well as to the profession of Christianity. And though 
it can never be commended, since it is intrinsically 
wrong, yet it might be overlooked in the latter case as it 
often is in the former, were it not in this instance carried 
to a most dangerous length, and employed as a means 
of disparaging the gospel, and ruining immortal souls. 
The ultimate aim is to bring Christianity into disrepute 
— to " blaspheme the name and the doctrine of God ;" 
and in order to accomplish what is thus intended, the 
aberrations of every individual Christian are spoken of, 
as descriptive of all who have embraced the religion of 
Jesus, and as a sort of universal and necessary accom- 
paniment to the faith and character of his disciples. 

3. It may be observed in the third place, that the fact 
of which we are speaking is often exaggerated, by con- 



SER. 8. EXAGGERATED. 205 

sidering one part of the Christian's conduct as a test of 
his whole character. No man, indeed, can be regarded 
as truly good, who wilfully and habitually violates any one 
of the precepts which he believes to issue from divine 
authority. I speak here, however, not of habitual, but 
of detached and occasional, transgressions of the divine 
law, which, it cannot be denied, have been, and daily 
are, committed by Christians of the very highest attain- 
ments. Now, these being inconsistent with the strong 
profession of the Christian ; appearing more enormous, 
because they attach to one who has been in the practice 
of reproving others; and being, perhaps, independently 
of these aggravating circumstances, abundantly flagrant 
and injurious in themselves, they strike the feelings and 
the imagination forcibly, and are allowed so to fill up the 
view, that the virtues and graces with which they are 
associated, are forgotten or disregarded. It is not con- 
sidered that the best of men cannot be perfect, and that, 
from the corruption of their nature, and the strength of 
external temptation, they will be sometimes betrayed into 
criminal indulgence. It is not considered by what bit- 
ter regret and self-abasement, such indulgence is suc- 
ceeded, and what watchfulness, and mortification, and 
holy jealousy, it produces in their future life. It is not 
considered, how carefully they have avoided a thousand 
vices into which multitudes around them are plunging 
every day; how faithfully they have studied to discharge 
their personal and social duties ; and how many have 
profited by their benevolence, their instructions and 
their example. All this is as much forgotten as if it had 
no existence ; or it is recollected only for the purpose 
of heightening the color of their guilt. The splen- 
dor of their virtues is obscured by an individual spot, 
which malice or misconception has magnified far beyond 
its real size. And their character is appreciated, not 
by the tone of their principles, in connexion with the 
habitual tenor of their conduct, but by a single vicious 
action, of which their mind is utterly abhorrent, which 
they bewail with unfeigned sorrow, and which a candid 
18 



206 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 8. 



eye would trace to those imperfections of the heart, and 
those infelicities of condition, which adhere to humanity 
in its best estate. > > 

It is in this manner that many of the enemies of 
religion decide, upon the merits of its sincerest vo- 
taries, and, through that false medium, upon its own 
pretensions to belief and submission. They look at 
the bad, rather than the good, qualities of the Chris- 
tian ; and speak as if one of the former overbalanced 
the brightest assemblage of the latter, and deprived 
them of all their claims on our approbation. Talk to 
these men of any individual, who is a Christian in his 
practice, as well as in his profession ; tell them of his 
piety, his humility, his patience, his integrity, his char- 
ity ; point him out as one who is a credit to religion, 
and an ornament to society ; and they will instantly re- 
vert to some unholy action which, in an evil hour, he 
had once committed, or to some circumstances of his 
character which have a suspicious appearance ; they 
dwell upon these with relentless severity, and conclude 
that he who is guilty of such things, whatever he may 
be in other respects, cannot be regarded as a per- 
son of real worth. Look into their writings, and you 
will perceive the same want of candor and discrimina- 
tion, when they treat of those religious characters which 
are delineated in scripture. The unmanly equivocation 
of Abraham, the aggravated crime of David, and the 
unhappy strife between Paul and Barnabas, are held 
out as the characteristical features of these eminent per- 
sons: that faith, and piety, and humility, and zeal for 
the glory of God and the best interests of mankind, by 
which they were severally distinguished, go for nothing 
in the estimate that is formed ; and the solitary deeds 
of sin which they themselves never attempted to justify 
or to palliate, and which the Holy Spirit bath recorded 
for our instruction and warning, are employed to de- 
preciate or to annihilate their real worth, and to reduce 
them to a level with those, who make no pretensions to 
the love and the practice of religion. Thus it often 



SER. 8. 



EXAGGERATED. 



207 



happens that, contrary to the way in which our opponents 
judge in all other cases, contrary to the way in which they 
themselves would choose to be judged, contrary to the 
way in which reason or candor permits us to judge of 
any man, they make one unworthy action of the Chris- 
tian descriptive of his whole character, and an index to 
point out to us, with unerring certainty, what he really 
and essentially is. 

4. In the fourth place, the fact by which unbelievers 
are furnished with the objection we refer to, is fre- 
quently amplified by a too rigid comparison of the 
Christian's conduct with the religion in which he pro- 
fesses to believe. Christianity, they well know, pre- 
scribes a course of action the most pure and holy that 
can be imagined. It admits of no violation, however 
inconsiderable, of the duty which we owe to God, to our 
neighbor, or to ourselves. It dictates a habitual abhor- 
rence of every thing that is sinful, and a habitual devoted 
affection for every thing that is good. It commands us 
to " purify ourselves, even as God himself is pure." 

Such is the religion, to the truth of which we have 
declared our assent; such the religion, by which we 
profess to be regulated ; such the religion which we 
recommend to the faith and obedience of others. Hence 
our opponents conclude, either wilfully or by mistake, 
that our conduct must be actually immaculate in its 
whole tenor, and in all its constituent parts. They do 
not inquire whether this state of moral perfection be the 
constant object of our desires and our endeavors ; but 
whether we have actually attained to it. They look at 
us in the spotless mirror of the gospel : they find, of 
course, not only certain features, but the general aspect 
of our character, to be extremely defective ; nay, its 
blemishes and deformities become more prominent, 
from that blaze of unshaded purity in which it is re- 
flected ; and, judging by this appearance, they pro- 
nounce us to be inconsistent, hypocritical and base. 

Now, it would be fair enough to judge us by the 
standard to which we appeal, if they would take care at 



208 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 8. 



the same time to apply it under the direction of those 
rules, which the very nature and circumstances of the 
case require to be observed in such an important trial. 
In that case we should have no right to complain ; we 
should abide the result, whatever it might be. But we 
justly complain, that they disregard those rules, and ex- 
pect from us what, according to the test by which they 
try us, it is absolutely impossible we should ever be 
able to exhibit. They forget that the morality of the 
gospel must be perfect, because it is prescribed by a 
perfect Being, and that, had it been otherwise, they 
would very soon have discovered it to be unworthy of 
its alleged author. They forget that moral imperfec- 
tion is an attribute of our fallen nature, and must there- 
fore mingle in all our attempts to comply with the divine 
will, and to imitate the divine character. They forget 
that this doctrine is not only acknowledged in the 
Christian system, but is the very occasion of that sys- 
tem being planned, and the very foundation on which it 
is built. They forget that the promises and blessings 
of the gospel are never said to be conferred on those, 
who are as holy as the divine law requires ; but on 
those who, amidst the frailties, and the corruption, and 
the sin which often mark their path, are seeking for 
heaven through justification by the grace of God in 
Christ Jesus, through sanctification by his Holy Spirit, 
and through a patient continuance in well-doing. To 
all these things they pay no attention, although such 
considerations are essentially requisite for enabling them 
to form a " righteous judgment." They confine their 
view to an unqualified contrast between the moral pre- 
cepts of the gospel, and the actual state of Christian 
character ; and because the latter does not come up to 
the former, or approach very near to it, or in other 
w r ords, because they are not gratified with the exist- 
ence of that which they have no title to expect, they 
can find no Christians who are truly and sincerely good. 

And they fall the more readily into this error, by 
thinking of their own attainments. They, too, have a 



SER. 8. 



EXAGGERATED. 



209 



code of morals, by which they affect to be guided : but 
it is so very indulgent to all their favorite passions; it 
so uniformly consults their pleasure, their inclinations, 
and their temporal interests ; it has so little of rigorous 
or authoritative injunction belonging to it; and it 
abounds so much in saving clauses, that to conform 
oneself to it strictly, is one of the easiest things in the 
world. Its standard, indeed, is so miserably low, that 
in the present state of criminal law and of social inter- 
course, it is easier for them, methinks, to rise above 
than to fall below it. And, because they are conscious 
of keeping up to this standard of behavior which they 
have prescribed to themselves, they have no allowance 
to make to the Christian for coming short of the stand- 
ard which is prescribed to him by the word of God, 
and regard his deficiency as a proof that he is not what 
he pretends to be. 

It may be observed also, that to the injurious effects 
of this mode of judging, the ministers of religion are 
more particularly exposed. They not only make the 
same general professions with ordinary Christians, but 
take a leading part in defending and propagating the 
gospel. They preach it in its native purity. They 
remonstrate with the unbelieving. They reprove the 
disobedient. They insist upon a faithful performance 
of duty, and forbid the least indulgence to sinful appe- 
tite. Hence their failings are more ostensible and 
striking. A kind of involuntary resentment against 
them is awakened in the minds of those whom they ad- 
dress- These are happy to find an excuse so specious 
for their own immoralities. The avowed enemies of 
religion seize this opportunity of urging their favorite 
topic of priestcraft and hypocrisy. And thus, because 
ministers are not exactly and altogether what they teach 
others to be, occasion is taken to question their sincer- 
ity, or to deny that they have a good conscience. It 
may be said, indeed, to such persons, " We are men 
of like passions with yourselves ; we have the same 
corrupt nature ; we live in the same wicked world ; we 
*18 



210 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 8, 



are assaulted by the same spiritual foes; we are exposed 
to the same powerful temptations. We cannot there- 
fore set. a perfect example of the pure and faultless mo- 
rality of the gospel, which we are nevertheless bound to 
preach, by the most sacred obligations of fidelity to 
God, and of love to you." This reasoning is very ob- 
vious, and to a reflecting mind, irresistible. And yet 
how often does it happen, that by a rigorous compari- 
son of the conduct which ministers recommend, with 
the conduct which they exhibit — a comparison which 
gives to their very best actions an unfavorable aspect, 
and converts their most inconsiderable faults into great 
and flagrant guilt — they are convicted of absolute 
worthlessness, or thrust down to a much lower degree 
in the scale of character, than they are fairly entitled to 
hold. And being thus judged according to a most fal- 
lacious appearance, they are doomed to suffer the evil 
of a most unrighteous judgment. 

In our next discourse on this subject, we shall en- 
deavor to show, that the misconduct of Christians, which 
our enemies are so eager to lay hold of and exaggerate, 
affords no argument against the truth and excellence of 
the gospel, and that, on this account, they have no 
reason for " blaspheming the name and the doctrine of 
God." In the mean time, we shall offer a few remarks 
in reference to what has been already said. 

1. And in the first place, let it not be thought, that 
we mean to plead for any undue or unlawful indulgence 
to the disciples of Jesus. In that case we should, 
indeed, inflict a cruel blow on the interests of religion, 
and be surrendering the very cause we profess to vin- 
dicate. The gospel is altogether " a doctrine accord- 
ing to godliness" and purity : its very purpose, as well 
as its whole tendency, is to destroy the ascendancy of 
sin, and restore man to the holy image of his Maker ; 
and to say that any of its votaries may innocently 
neglect any duty, or taste of one criminal gratification, 
would be equally untrue and pernicious. But our ob- 
ject has been to point out the unfairness of its adver- 



SER. 8. 



EXAGGERATED. 



211 



saries, in giving false and exaggerated views of those 
errors, into which real Christians are betrayed, in spite 
of all their resolutions and vigilance and efforts, in order 
to remove one ground on which occasion is taken to 
" blaspheme the name and doctrine of God." After 
all, though there were to be no exaggeration in the 
case, every fault committed by any of Christ's followers, 
will be taken advantage of to speak evil of the gospel. 
But it is not just, either to the gospel or to the followers 
of Christ, that Christian conduct should be misappre- 
hended or misrepresented, or judged of uncandidly. 
And our design has been to guard against these evils; 
not to apologize for the sins of believers, but to prevent 
them from being so magnified or so mistaken, as to 
answer an infidel purpose, to which they could not 
otherwise have been made subservient. 

2. In the second place, let Christians beware of en- 
couraging unbelieving and ungodly men, in this mode 
of misjudging and misrepresenting character. Many, 
through rashness, or resentment, or some other unjusti- 
fiable feeling, seem anxious not only to detect, but even 
to proclaim the faults of their brethren, and to set them 
forth in mere than their real enormity or aggravations; and 
thus, without any bad intention, but as really and effect- 
ually as if they had such intention, they furnish those 
who wait and " watch for our halting" with an occasion 
to blaspheme. Now, let us carefully avoid this. It is 
wrong in itself; it is uncharitable and cruel to those 
who are the more immediate objects of it; and it is 
wantonly increasing those prejudices against the gospel 
which are already too numerous and too strong, and 
fortifying its enemies in their unbelief and hostility. At 
the same time, we must beware of carrying this tender- 
ness too far. Excessive anxiety to conceal the miscon- 
duct of our Christian brethren, labored attempts to pal- 
liate their guilt, unwillingness to condemn them for what 
is clearly and undeniably wrong, and such a treatment 
of them as they would have received from us had they 
been innocent — all this is decidedly reprehensible and 



212 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 8. 



mischievous. Taking part to this extent with the of- 
fender, is too much like giving countenance and pro- 
tection to the offence. It is, in some measure, identi- 
fying ourselves with those who are to blame. By 
showing so much indulgence to their fault, we virtually, 
as it were, adopt and repeat it. And thus we give our 
adversaries a double handle for " blaspheming the name 
and the doctrine of God," by giving them room for 
alleging that we have no great indignation against sin, 
provided it be committed by those who are of the same 
religious creed, and the same religious profession with 
ourselves. Let us avoid this : but, on the other hand, 
let us be careful not to give a deeper coloring, and not 
to give a wider publicity to the failings and misdeeds of 
our Christian neighbors, than the real merits of the case 
warrant, and the successful correction of the evil may 
require. Let charity be exercised as far as is consist- 
ent with truth, which must be paramount to every other 
consideration. And thus, let nothing be unnecessarily, 
or rashly, added to the means with which irreligious 
men are already too amply provided, for " blaspheming 
the name and the doctrine of God." 

3. Lastly, let us scrupulously abstain, in our own 
conduct, from every thing of which advantage may be 
taken, for that unhallowed purpose. Whatever men 
may think or say of us, it should be our constant study 
to be " holy in all manner of conversation."- But it is 
lawful and proper for us to derive a motive for culti- 
vating that character, with peculiar care and diligence, 
from the effect which it may hav^e, not merely in en- 
couraging our fellow-Christians, but also in lessening 
both the means, and the spirit, of hostility in those who 
are inimical to the gospel. For this end, it becomes us 
to " walk in wisdom towards them that are without ;" 
to "keep a bridle on our tongue while the wicked are 
before us ;" to " abstain from the very appearance of 
evil and " not to let our good be evil spoken of." 
We must not, indeed, allow ourselves to be allured into 
ostentation and hypocrisy. We must not be guilty of 



SER. 8. 



EXAGGERATED. 



213 



mean compliances — of sneaking compromises — of cow- 
ardly concealments. We must not commit any thing 
that is sinful, in order to hide a more flagrant iniquity, 
or to make others believe that we possess the virtues of 
which our conscience tells us that we are destitute. We 
must be bold, and honest, and truthful. And then, so 
far as it can be made consistent with these essential 
qualities, we must be prudent and circumspect in every 
part of our behavior — anxious to keep ourselves free 
from the suspicion, as well as from the reality of un- 
righteousness — faithful in all the duties and transactions 
of our peculiar calling, or our peculiar circumstances — 
ready to make sacrifices even of what we might other- 
wise withhold, in order to prevent offence being taken 
by those who are observing us — and in all things, we 
must endeavor to "let our light so shine before men" 
that " whereas they are disposed to speak against us as 
evil-doers, they may, by our good works which they 
shall behold, glorify God on the day of visitation." 
Thus shall we work out our own salvation, and as far 
as we are concerned, thus shall we prevent "the name 
and the work of God from being blasphemed," and pro- 
mote the influence of " pure and undefined religion" 
among our brethren of mankind. 



SERMON IX. 



THE IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS NO 
ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 

1 TIMOTHY vi. 1. 

" Let as many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name 
of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." 

In a former discourse on these words, we proposed to 
consider the- objection to Christianity which is drawn 
from the sinful conduct of those who have embraced it. 
We first directed your attention to the alleged fact on 
which the objection is made to rest, and endeavored to 
show you that it is much exaggerated. We stated that 
it is exaggerated in these four ways ; first, by a deter- 
mination to censure, with or without reason, the con- 
duct of Christ's professed followers ; secondly, by the 
fault of one Christian being transferred and imputed to 
Christians in general ; thirdly, by considering one part 
of the Christian's conduct as a test of his real and sub- 
stantial character, and fourthly, by an uncandid and 
unwarranted comparison of his deportment, with the 
religion to which he appeals as the standard of his faith 
and manners. 



SER. 9. IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS. 215 



We now go on to show, that the fact in question can- 
not be reasonably adduced to invalidate the truth of 
Christianity, or constitute any just cause of offence against 
that system of religion. 

Now, it may be observed in general, that the great 
and decisive question respecting the truth of Christianity, 
is not a question of practical effects, any more than it is 
a question of abstract speculation, but simply a question 
of fact — of fact, which is obvious to every understand- 
ing, and which offers itself on the evidence of testimony. 
If Jesus Christ and his apostles wrought miracles in 
support of their mission — if we be satisfied that they 
were thus honored with the sanction of divine authority 
— then it behoves us, on every principle of reason and 
common sense, to admit the doctrine which they 
preached as the doctrine of God. Having ascertained 
and acknowledged the reality of this circumstance, we 
have ascertained and acknowledged that which leads us, 
not by any doubtful or circuitous argument, but directly 
and irresistibly, to receive the gospel as a true revela- 
tion. Of the particulars, indeed, of which this revela- 
tion consists, we may entertain different opinions ; but 
there can be one opinion only with regard to its exist- 
ence, and our consequent obligation to embrace it in 
some form or other. When, therefore, various objections, 
such as the one we are discussing, are brought forward 
against it, we do not say that they are altogether un- 
meaning, or may not have a certain effect in modifying 
our views of it ; but, holding by the conviction which 
has been laid on the deep, and broad, and strong found- 
ation of well attested fact, we say that they must be 
destitute of all solidity as to the purpose for which they 
are adduced ; they must arise from ignorance, miscon- 
ception, or perverseness ; and cannot, with any pro- 
priety, affect our faith. They may afford us matter of 
regret ; they may present to us difficulties that we can- 
not solve ; they may furnish us with subjects of curious 
or of useful inquiry; but as reasons for rejecting Christi- 
anity, or for treating it with distrust, they are absolutely 



216 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 8. 



futile and inadmissible. If anyone would persuade us, 
that we should not believe in the Christian religion, he 
must first prove, that God gave no miraculous attestation 
to its Author and original propagators. If he succeed 
in his proof, the use of every subordinate argument is 
thereby superseded for showing it to be "a cunningly 
devised fable." But if he fail in this attempt, and we 
be still convinced, that it enjoyed the countenance of 
heaven in the way alluded to, it is impossible for us, in 
the very nature of things, to doubt of its truth, or to 
consider it as substantially false, notwithstanding all the 
exceptions to it which he is able to state, however nu- 
merous, and however pointed. When therefore, it is 
urged that it cannot be a revelation from God, because 
those who have embraced it, continue to lead wicked 
lives, which it must be the object of a divine revelation 
to prevent, we may allow the premises, but we must 
deny the conclusion. Men may reject what is true, and 
disobey legal authority; this is what they do every day. 
But such rejection and disobedience neither alter the 
nature of that truth, nor destroy the legitimacy of that 
authority. In the same way, the Christian religion, be- 
ing established on grounds which have the sanction of 
God to support them, cannot be deprived of its claims 
to our submissive regard, because those who profess to 
believe in it, do not act uniformly as it requires. " Let 
God be true, and every man a liar." 

The objection must suppose, that the wickedness of 
professing Christians arises either from Christianity be- 
ing directly immoral in its influence, or from its being 
deficient in power to make its votaries holy. 

Now, that its influence is far from being directly im- 
moral will be granted, without hesitation, by every one, 
who is at all acquainted with its spirit, and its principles. 
It has a character so completely opposite to this, that it 
is commonly accused by its enemies of being severely 
and unnecessarily strict, inasmuch as it requires us to 
conform ourselves to a perfect law, and to imitate a 
perfect example. Some of its doctrines, indeed, have 



SER. 9. NO ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 217 



been made a pretext for licentious conduct ; but this is 
only a proof that the best things are frequently most 
abused ; for these doctrines, when fairly represented 
and rationally understood, are all found to be " accord- 
ing to godliness." They furnish occasion for the exer- 
cise of some grace, or motives for the performance of 
some duty, or reasons for being universally devoted to 
the will of God. They encourage vice in those only who 
take partial views of them ; who seek for countenance 
to their iniquities; who are distinguished by fanaticism, 
or by profligacy, or by a melancholy combination of 
both. What else, indeed, can be the character of those 
who sin because the goodness of God abounds ? And 
besides, although these doctrines, singly considered, 
should seem to countenance vicious indulgence, which 
yet must be explicitly, as it can be fairly, denied, yet this 
apparent tendency is entirely removed, when they are 
viewed, as- they always ought to be viewed, in connex- 
ion with the preceptive part of the gospel, whose unri- 
valled purity is above all suspicion. 

The objection, therefore, must owe its force to the 
other alternative that was stated. It must suppose that 
Christianity is deficient in power, or not properly calcu- 
lated to make its votaries holy. For the purpose of 
determining this point, let us first examine that religion, 
as far as the allegation goes ; and then let us look at the 
effects which it has actually produced on the moral char- 
acter of its adherents. 

Wherein, then does its alleged deficiency consist ? 
In what respect is it naturally inefficacious, for making 
men virtuous and good ? Is it defective in the plainness 
and energy of its precepts ? Nothing can be plainer, 
or more forcible, than the manner in which it proposes 
its rules for the regulation of our conduct. The ten 
commandments given by Moses, the discourses of our 
Saviour, and the practical parts of the Epistles, are exam- 
ples of this which must excite the admiration of every 
candid reader. In these, the actions we are to avoid, 
and those we are to perform, are stated so clearly, that 
19 



218 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 9. 



" he who runs may read and they are stated so pos- 
itively, as to exclude all doubt of their intended obliga- 
tion. And, what is particularly worthy of remark, the 
precepts of the gospel are so generally diffused over the 
sacred records, that, in every page we peruse, they 
are laid down to us in some shape or other; and to be- 
come acquainted with any part of the scripture is, in 
other words, to become acquainted with a certain por- 
tion of our duty. 

Again, is Christianity defective on the extent of its 
morality. Its morality could not be more extensive than 
it actually is. There is no vice which it does not pro- 
hibit : there is no virtue which it does not enjoin. It 
does not forbid merely great and flagrant crimes ; it 
forbids all those lesser sins, which so often escape the 
notice of a corrupted world, and teaches us that no sin 
whatever can be innocently indulged. It does not pre- 
scribe merely the more obvious duties of life ; it pre- 
scribes every duty that arises from the various circum- 
stances and relations in which we are placed. It does 
not recommend merely those shining excellencies of 
conduct which attract the public gaze, and produce 
mighty and striking effects ; it recommends also, with 
no less earnestness, the exercise of those humble and 
unassuming graces which are equally important to 
the happiness of mankind, though seen by no eye but 
His, from whom nothing can be concealed. It does not 
inculcate merely rectitude of external deportment, with 
w T hich so many are disposed to rest contented : it incul- 
cates, with peculiar force and frequency, that internal 
purity, that habitual holiness, in all the thoughts and af- 
fections of the heart, which is the best security that can 
be desired for a well-ordered life and conversation. It 
does not say merely, that we must be virtuous and good ; 
it says, that we must always abound in godliness and good 
works, and that our path must be like " the shining light, 
which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 
The gospel is not defective then, in the extent of its 
morality. 



SER. 9. NO ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 219 



Is it defective in the principles on which its morality 
is founded ? That might be affirmed, if it inculcated 
the principle of fictitious honor, which this moment 
stimulates to noble deeds, and the next gives its coun- 
tenance to boundless dissipation and bloody revenge ; 
or the principle of sentimental feeling, which is but a 
modification of passion, and cannot therefore be trusted 
as a guide of conduct; or the principle of selfishness, 
which teaches us to stifle the suggestions, and laugh at 
the pretensions of disinterested benevolence ; or the 
principle of utility, which is so liable to mistake, and 
must be so useless to the bulk of mankind, who are 
incapable of taking comprehensive views ; or any other 
principle which reaches no higher than the erring rea- 
son, or more unsettled passions of men, and extends 
no farther than the limited interests and pleasures of 
the world. But the principles of Christian morality 
are of a quite different and infinitely more perfect kind, 
and fitted, by their natural and unfettered operation, to 
form a character of unblemished and superlative worth. 
Profound regard for the authority of Him who made us, 
whose subjects we now are, to whom we are finally ac- 
countable, and who possesses the most sacred and un- 
questionable title to our unreserved homage ; firm and 
lively faith in the existence and perfections of God, and 
in the various declarations and discoveries of his will 
which are contained in the Holy Scriptures ; supreme 
love and ardent gratitude to that Being who is infinitely 
amiable in himself, and whose unbounded mercy in 
Christ Jesus has laid us under obligations to obedience, 
the most cheerful and devoted ; a heartfelt reliance 
upon that sacrifice of himself, by which the Son of God 
redeemed sinners from the guilt and the dominion of 
sin, and thereby established a claim to their homage 
and submission which it will require the services of 
an eternity to satisfy ; that charity towards all our breth- 
ren of mankind which, enlightened, directed, and invig- 
orated by the revelation of the grace of God, and by 
the influences of his Holy Spirit, extends as far as the 



220 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 9. 



habitations of men are found, elevates us above the sor- 
did wish of living to ourselves, and consists in so loving 
each other as Christ has loved us ; a pure desire and 
rational hope of attaining to the happiness of heaven, 
where we shall enjoy communion with him whose name 
is Holy, and have for our companions " the angels who 
kept their first estate," and " the spirits of just men 
made perfect, "-—these, and such as these, are the prin- 
ciples on which the gospel proposes to form the temper 
and conduct of its votaries; and surely it cannot be 
owing to any imperfection in these principles that pro- 
fessing Christians are chargeable with acts of wicked- 
ness 5 for we cannot conceive principles more power- 
fully calculated to subdue the boldest passions, to 
awaken and cherish the best affections, to dissuade from 
every thing that is in the least degree unholy, and to se- 
cure a constant, faithful, and conscientious performance 
of duty. 

Is Christianity defective, then, in the sanctions with 
which its laws are enforced ? These sanctions are fitted 
to awe the stoutest, and to animate the coldest heart. 
They exclude not the happiness and the misery that 
may be experienced in this mixed and transitory state ? 
as the appointed consequences of virtue and vice in 
every part of God's dominions. But they are much 
more extended, interesting, and impressive, than any 
thing that can be either suffered or enjoyed in a present 
world, or at the hand of human beings. They promise 
the favor, and they threaten the displeasure, not of the 
mightiest of the children of men, but of Him who has 
every thing at his command ; who " loveth righteous- 
ness and hateth iniquity," whose "favor is better than 
life" and whose displeasure is worse than death. And 
they direct our views forward to a judgment-day, to a 
solemn reckoning, to a sentence that shall never be 
recalled, to an entrance into the regions of unspeakable 
and immortal joy, and to " everlasting destruction from 
the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his 
power." When such are the rewards which Chris- 



SER. 9. NO ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 221 



tianity annexes to obedience, and such the punishments 
which it denounces against the rebellious and ungodly, 
no doubt, with respect to the sufficiency of its sanctions, 
can remain in any mind which knows what it is to be 
deterred by fear, or stimulated by hope ; or which feels 
the distinction that subsists between the good and the 
evil, the blessing and the curse. 

Is it defective in the encouragements which it gives to 
virtuous exertions ? What encouragements greater than 
these — an assurance that " the eye of God is ever upon 
the righteous, and his ear open to their cry," — an 
assurance that the afflictions to which their virtue may 
subject them, shall be made conducive to their improve- 
ment, — an assurance that, in living holy, they are living 
to the praise of that Saviour who redeemed them by 
his own blood, — an assurance that every deed of char- 
ity shall be accounted and rewarded by Jesus, as " done 
unto Himself," — an assurance that, whereas they are 
weak and insufficient of themselves, the Spirit of all 
might shall be sent to their assistance, — an assurance 
that they are walking in that path which has been trod- 
den by thousands before them, who are now rejoicing 
around the throne of God, — an assurance that the time 
is fast approaching, when all their labors of suffering and 
of active virtue shall be crowned with honor and glory, 
in the everlasting kingdom of their Father ? Such 
being the assurances explicitly given in Scripture, the 
gospel cannot possibly be considered as deficient in the 
encouragements, with which it supports and animates 
the Christian in that holy path, by which it is appointed 
that he shall journey to the heavenly world. 

Is it defective, I ask, in the last place, in the external 
means which it prescribes, for promoting the spiritual 
improvement of the Christian ? Here also, it is wholly 
unexceptionable. It puts into his hands a volume, 
which is " given by inspiration, and is profitable for 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in 
righteousness, that as a man of God, he may be per- 
fect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." It 
*19 



222 IMPERFECT TONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 9, 



appoints qualified persons to explain to him the mean- 
ing of these scriptures ; to instruct him in every part of 
his duty ; to remind him of what he owes to God, to 
his neighbor, and to himself; to warn him when he 
goes astray ; to encourage him in the pursuit of holi- 
ness; and to use every means by which he may be 
made to abound yet more and more, in all the things 
that are excellent. It consecrates one day in seven to 
rest from ordinary labor, to give him a special opportu- 
nity of examining his heart, of reviewing his past con- 
duct, and of providing an additional store of knowledge 
and wisdom for his guidance in future. It institutes 
certain ordinances, by which his moral principles are 
strengthened ; and by which, to the obligations that 
already bind him, there is superadded that which arises 
from a voluntary and solemn dedication of himself to 
the love and practice of goodness. It prescribes to him 
the exercise of habitual prayer, by which his mind is 
accustomed to the contemplation of divine excellence, 
and by which he derives from heaven, the grace and 
strength that are requisite for enabling him to walk in 
the ways of God's commandments. And, what is of 
the utmost consequence, it does not merely recommend 
the use of these means as a source of improvement and 
advantage, but makes it a subject of authoritative, ap- 
pointment, and commands it as* a duty, which we are 
under as strict obligations to perform, as any of the 
other duties required of us by the laws of God. 

In all the views now taken of the moral influence of 
the gospel, it evidently appears, that no defect whatever 
can be ascribed to it in that particular. On the con- 
trary, it seems perfectly calculated, by the qualities we 
have found it to possess, to purify, in an extraordinary 
measure, the heart and the character of its adherents. 
It seems calculated to produce this effect, not only 
above all the religious and moral systems which have 
yet appeared in the world, but above any system which 
the unaided powers of man can be reasonably supposed 
capable of forming. The survey of it which has been 



SER. 9. NO ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 223 



taken, necessarily short and rapid, is yet sufficient, we 
presume, to establish the conclusion at which we aim. 
To whatever cause the wickedness of professing Chris- 
tians may be owing, it cannot be attributed to any want 
of fitness in the Christian system to produce a contrary 
character, but is in direct opposition to the whole spirit, 
and design, and tendency of that system. And, there- 
fore, instead of considering the fact on which so much 
stress is often laid by the enemies of our faith, as any 
proof against its divine origin, we should look to the 
moral character of that faith itself, as being not only 
worthy of the God from whom it professes to come, 
but capable of being traced to no inferior source, and 
consequently, as furnishing a powerful and irresistible 
evidence, for the divinity of our holy religion. 

We have still to consider the effects which Chris- 
tianity has actually produced, on the moral character of 
its adherents. But that point we must reserve as the 
subject of another discourse ; and we shall now con- 
clude with a few remarks, by way of improvement. 

When we reflect on the inherent excellence and puri- 
fying tendency of the gospel, and contrast it, in these 
respects, with the conduct actually exhibited by many 
who profess attachment to it, there is indeed much rea- 
son for wonder and regret — for wonder that the effect 
is so very unlike the cause which we suppose to oper- 
ate, and for regret that there should be so much un wor- 
thiness amidst such manifold and mighty advantages. 
It surely becomes those who call themselves Christians, 
and yet lead unholy lives, to think seriously of the man- 
ner in which this inconsistency affects their character 
and their prospects. It renders them chargeable with 
being " enemies to God by wicked works," while they 
enjoy the light which should guide them in the path of 
righteousness, and profess to walk in that path, while 
yet they are travelling in the way of transgressors : and 
being thus enemies to God, what can all their priv- 
ileges however valuable, and all their pretensions, how- 
ever sacred, do for them, when they are called to give 



224 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS. SER. 9. 



in their account? — what but aggravate the condem- 
nation to which they must be doomed in the eternal 
judgment? Let me, therefore, entreat you to search 
and try yourselves, that you may discover your sin- 
fulness and your danger, in their full extent, that you 
may be aware how far you are from the kingdom of 
heaven, though you are living amidst the outward ben- 
efits of the gospel dispensation, and that you may be 
persuaded to embrace that gospel in faith and love, 
having your hearts renewed and sanctified by its quick- 
ening power, and all your principles, and affections, and 
conduct, subjected to its holy government. 

And let not this discussion be lost upon real Chris- 
tians. It becomes you, my believing friends, to " stir 
up the grace that is in you," that you may live more 
" unblameably and irreproveably" in the sight of your 
brethren and of the world ; to cherish the faith that you 
have placed in Jesus, that it may exert a still more 
purifying influence on your " heart, out of which are 
the issues of life to be more watchful against tempta- 
tion, and more determined in resisting it ; to keep 
yourselves more from the snares and allurements of 
" the world, that lieth in wickedness and to pray, 
more frequently and more fervently, for that Divine 
Spirit, through whom alone you can be preserved from 
the defilements of sin, and be enabled to " walk worthy 
of the vocation wherewith you are called." Live thus, 
and you will not only work out your own salvation, but 
you will be instrumental in promoting the salvation of 
others, in preventing " the name and the doctrine of 
God from being blasphemed," and in promoting the 
prosperity and influence of " the glorious gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." 



SERMON X. 



THE IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS NO 
ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY, 

1 TIMOTHY vi. I. 

" Let as many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters ivorthy of all honor, that the name 
of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed ." 

In entering on the consideration of these words, we 
proposed to consider the objection to Christianity which 
is drawn from the sinful conduct of those who have em- 
braced it. We, first, directed your attention to the 
alleged fact on which the objection is made to rest, and 
endeavored to show you that it is much exaggerated. 
We next proceeded to show you, that the fact in ques- 
tion cannot be reasonably adduced to invalidate the 
truth of Christianity, or to constitute any just cause of 
offence against that system of religion. Here we re- 
marked, that the objection must suppose that the wick- 
edness of professing Christians arises either from Chris- 
tianity being directly immoral in its influence, or from 
its being deficient in power to make its votaries holy. 
The first part of this alternative we discarded, as what 
no person would presume to maintain. And, in dis- 



226 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 10. 



cussing the second part of it, we took occasion to prove 
that Christianity is not deficient in the plainness and en- 
ergy of its precepts — nor in the extent of its morality — - 
nor in the principles on which its morality is founded — 
nor in the sanctions by which its duties are enforced — 
nor in the encouragements which it gives to holy exer- 
tion — nor in the external means which it prescribes for 
promoting the spiritual improvement of the Christian. 
But then the argument is not complete, till we have 
considered the effects which Christianity has produced 
on the moral character of its adherents. And it is to 
this point we are to speak in the sequel of the present 
discourse. 

1. Let it be considered what a multitude of excel- 
lent characters have been formed by the influence of 
the gospel. From its first establishment down to the 
present day, every successive age has had a number of 
individuals and of families by whom its sanctifying 
power has been deeply felt and practically exhibited. 

On looking into the history of its progress and effects, 
we observe that it no sooner obtained a footing, than it 
began to change the moral aspect of society, wherever, 
at least, the profession of it prevailed. By thousands it 
was acknowledged as a divine religion ; and by a very 
great proportion of these its spirit was imbibed, and its 
precepts were obeyed. They were converted by it 
from the abominations of heathenism, and from the cor- 
ruptions of Judaism; they did not merely abandon a 
speculative error, and adopt a speculative truth ; it was 
not a mere improvement in point of doctrine : it was a 
total renovation in their heart and life. They became 
humane and pure, meek and temperate; anxious to 
" depart from all iniquity," and zealous in the cultivation 
of universal holiness ; eminent for their personal virtues, 
— for piety to God, and benevolence to men. This is 
no imaginary representation — no extravagant picture of 
fancy — no exaggerated statement to support an other- 
wise untenable hypothesis. It is a well authenticated 
fact, which stands upon record, and of which every one 



SER. 10. NO ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 227 

must be satisfied who is acquainted with the early his- 
tory of the church : a fact, which, in those times, 
attracted the notice and excited the admiration of the 
bitterest enemies of Christianity ; and which operated 
powerfully in recommending that system to the respect, 
the faith, and the obedience both of Jew and Gentile. 
But this fact was not limited to the primitive times of 
Christianity. It has existed, more or less, in every 
age ; we cannot fix our eyes on a single page in the 
history of our religion, in which its triumphs over the 
bad passions and evil habits of mankind have not been 
conspicuous. Even in that dark period, when the 
knowledge of its genuine doctrines seemed to be lost ; 
when it had assumed a form the most unfavorable to 
morality — when it appeared to be overwhelmed with 
the most debasing corruption ; even then, amidst all 
these disadvantages, it had its votaries, whom it ele- 
vated far above the pollutions of the world, and adorned 
at once with the most splendid and the most amiable 
virtues. And since the era of the Reformation, which 
rescued it from the fooleries of superstition, and from 
the multiform and numerous errors which had been 
industriously intermingled with its sacred truths, it has 
given many striking proofs of its tendency to purify the 
affections, to ameliorate the conduct, and to make men 
what they ought to be, as subjects of God's righteous 
government. If we look around us in the present day, 
we discover on every hand its powerful operation on 
the active principles of those who have embraced it. 
We observe it giving dignity to personal deportment ; 
filling the domestic circle with love and harmony ; 
beautifying social life with the graces of meekness, be- 
nevolence, and mercy ; and throwing a lustre on national 
character, far above that which distinguished the bright- 
est periods of Greece and Rome. We do not say, 
indeed, that it has ever made any man perfect ; or that 
those who have embraced it are, in consequence of its 
influence, altogether free from vice. But we say, that 
it has superinduced on their character so much moral 



228 



IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 10. 



excellence, as to render them objects which we must 
contemplate with feelings of complacency, with senti- 
ments of respect. How many individuals are there, 
who abound in godliness and good works, and whose 
superior virtue we can trace to no other cause, than the 
sanctifying power of Christian truth ! They themselves 
acknowledge that it is this which constrains them to ab- 
stain from vice, and to do the holy will of God. And 
while it must be confessed, that they frequently fall 
short in the performance of duty, it is evident, at the 
same time, that they deeply regret their imperfections, 
that they habitually endeavor to " perfect holiness in the 
fear of the Lord," and that they succeed so far, at 
least, as to establish their right to a kind and a degree 
of approbation, which we can never bestow upon those 
whose life has been formed on a different model. In 
short, that, among those who have professed the gospel, 
there have been many trained to a high measure of 
moral worth under its influence, and its influence alone, 
is a fact which every age has witnessed, which must be 
admitted by every person who is at all acquainted with 
the progress of Christianity, or disposed to view it with 
a candid eye ; and which must have existed to an ex- 
tent far greater than we have had access to know, or to 
observe, seeing that the influence of religion has been 
chiefly experienced by those who have moved in the 
humble and more tranquil walks of life, and has purified 
thousands and millions whose virtues have never been 
heard of, and never witnessed, beyond the narrow 
sphere, or obscure occupation, in which providence had 
cast their lot. 

2. But the holy tendency of the gospel is obvious, 
not only from its powerful effect on those who have truly 
believed its divine origin, and given a candid reception 
to its doctrines ; the same thing may be seen in the im- 
proved moral condition of those also,who have either given 
a mere speculative assent to it, or who are acquainted only 
with its tenets and precepts, or who live merely in coun- 
tries where it is professed. In these cases, it has con- 



SER. 10. NO ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 229 

fessedly raised the tone of public morals, put a stop to 
practices which disgraced human nature, given rise to 
the most humane and useful institutions, introduced a 
more perfect standard of moral judgment, and infused 
into the mind of society at large a spirit of propriety, of 
generosity, of rectitude, and of decency, which has ele- 
vated man above his ordinary level, and which no other 
system has ever been able to inspire. The history of 
the gospel furnishes us with a detail of interesting and 
incontrovertible facts, which demonstrate, that Chris- 
tianity has neither been useless nor detrimental as a 
moral system ; that it has maintained an influence pe- 
culiar to itself, over the sentiments and manners of man- 
kind ; and that this influence has been at once power- 
ful, important, and extensive. But if it has been so 
efficient with regard to thousands and myriads who have 
not experienced individually its converting and saving 
power, of how much real native energy, in this respect, 
must it be possessed, and how admirably calculated 
must it be to purify those, who receive it as a divine 
religion ? Although we had never seen one instance of 
its complete personal efficacy, we could not possibly, 
without giving up all our ideas of tracing effects to 
their causes, and of reasoning by analogy, have denied, 
or even questioned, its possession of a direct and vigor- 
ous tendency to discourage the practice of sin, and to 
promote the reign of holiness in the world. The argu- 
ment is equally simple and irresistible. If the gospel 
have actually reformed and greatly improved the char- 
acter of those, who have merely lived in countries where 
it has been known and professed, then surely it cannot 
be deficient in power, to carry, to high and distinguished 
attainments in virtue, such as have truly imbibed its spirit, 
and yielded themselves to its guidance. And though 
this, of itself, is not a sufficient ground for believing 
Christianity to be of heavenly origin, it is at least quite 
adequate to the purpose of meeting and nullifying the 
objection that we are discussing. 
20 



230 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 10. 



3. It is not enough, however, to state that there are 
many who show in their conduct, the holy tendency 
and sanctifying power of Christianity — that there are, 
and have been, multitudes of Christians who have adorned 
their religion by the exercise of every virtue — it is 
proper to state, in addition to this, the contrast which 
their present conduct exhibits to their former conduct, 
and also to the deportment of others, who have rejected 
the gospel, or who have never heard of its existence. 
At this contrast we have already hinted ; but though it by 
no means requires a long illustration, it certainly de- 
serves a more particular notice, as being essential to a 
complete view, and a just decision, of the subject. 

We are not to rest satisfied with considering simply 
what the Christian is. We must compare what he is. 
with what he was before he embraced the gospel, 
This shows the degree of power which that religion has 
to make its votaries holy. He who is brought from the 
love and practice of the most abominable vices — from 
evil habits of the most inveterate kind, to take delight in 
the law of God, and in the performance of duty, has 
been unquestionably constrained by motives of no ordi- 
nary strength, and has paid a species of homage to the 
system, by which this revolution has been effected in his 
character, which our adversaries will in vain attempt to 
account for on their usual principles. 

It is right also, to compare the moral character of 
the Christian, with that of others who have not known 
or adopted the same religious faith. While he is " de- 
nying ungodliness and worldly affections," they are not 
even sensible that there is much guilt or evil in these 
things. While he is " living soberly, righteously, and 
godly," they are indulging freely in the gratification of 
every criminal appetite and passion. While he is acting 
on a fixed and steady principle of regard to the authority 
of God, they are anxious only in the pursuit of worldly 
interests, or of sensual pleasure, and consider nothing 
as valuable which does not contribute to these unworthy 
ends. While he is habitually regulating his conduct by 



SER. JO. NO ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 231 



a standard of unmingled excellence, and is making grad- 
ual approaches to the perfection at which he constantly 
aims, they are conforming to maxims which have their 
foundation in error; they are addicted to many vices upon 
system, and under the very sanction of their religion, 
disgracing themselves by practices the most odious and 
detestable. Let the adversaries of our faith consider 
this — Let them recollect that the votaries of Christianity 
are distinguished by a species, and have attained a 
degree, of moral worth, which we shall in vain search for 
in the votaries of any other system whatever — let them 
recollect that the gospel has raised the character of the 
lowest of the people who have embraced it, incompara- 
bly higher in the scale of morality than the most accom- 
plished disciple of the most eminent schools of philoso- 
phy has ever been able to reach — let them recollect that 
true Christians far exceed, in the purity and extent of 
their virtue, even those who, though they have not be- 
lieved in the gospel, have yet borrowed many of its pre- 
cepts, have been trained up under the prevalent influence 
of its spirit, and are accounted the most amiable and 
respectable of the men of the world — let them recollect 
these things, and then deny, if they can, not merely 
the superior, but the direct, and decided, and undevi- 
ating tendency of the Christian religion, to make those 
by whom it is adopted, remarkable for the love and the 
practice of genuine holiness. 

4. It was formerly stated, that the fact upon which 
the objection we are considering is founded, is frequently 
exaggerated by the fault of one Christian being trans- 
ferred or imputed to the whole church. But I have 
now to observe, that the fact is also most unfairly and 
injuriously misapplied in another way. Our adversaries 
make no distinction between real, and merely nominal 
Christians. And yet that such a distinction actually 
exists, and that it ought to be attended to, must be ad- 
mitted by every one who has any pretensions to justice 
and candor. It is notorious that there are some whose 
belief in the truth of Christianity is merely speculative ; 



232 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 10. 



who cannot deny that the religion of Jesus is supported 
by sufficient evidence, but who have no distinct and im- 
pressive views of its divine nature, and infinite impor- 
tance ; who consider it as a system of abstract doctrine 3 
and never recognise or think of it as the rule of conduct 
which they must observe, or perish for ever. That it 
should have much practical influence on persons, by 
whom it is regarded in this cold and distant manner, is 
not to be expected : their ideas of it are extremely im- 
perfect : they hate its spirit : they wish it to be different 
from what it is : they admit it to be true, because they 
cannot prove it to be false : and give it such a reception 
in their minds, as is given by a habitual drunkard to the 
maxim that drunkenness is a wicked and ruinous prac- 
tice, while, with this conviction, which his understanding 
cannot refuse, he goes on to indulge as formerly in the 
vice of intemperance. 

There are many, too, who have assumed the pro- 
fession of Christianity, without any conviction at all 
respecting its credibility, but because they have been 
born and educated in a Christian country, and are 
naturally desirous to comply with the fashion that pre- 
vails around them. They might be offended were we 
to call them infidels ; but neither can they be denom- 
inated believers : they are in a great measure ignorant 
of the religion which they appear to have embraced ; 
they are careless whether it be of divine institution, or 
of human device ; all their concern is to move quietly 
down the stream of custom, and not to disturb them- 
selves with inquiries into the nature, and strict compli- 
ance with the requisitions, of a religion of which they 
know but little, and think it of no consequence to learn 
more. To look for habitual resistance in persons of 
this description to the temptations of sin, or for high 
attainments in holiness and piety, is not less absurd 
than to look with confidence for gold in every object, 
the surface of which has accidentally received a yellow 
tinge. 



SER. 10. NO ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 233 

There are not a few also, who profess to be Chris- 
tians, while, in their hearts, they do not believe one 
word of the gospel. They have some sinister purposes 
to serve, and the better to accomplish these, they pre- 
tend to be followers of Christ, and observe such forms 
as shall demonstrate them to be so, in the vague and 
indiscriminating estimation of the world ; but all the while 
they are in reality unbelievers ; they reject Christ as a 
messenger from God, and accordingly despise the au- 
thority of his gospel. And is it reasonable to be disap- 
pointed because such persons do not exhibit a character 
regulated by its precepts, or pervaded by its temper ? 
Is it any thing but folly in the extreme, to argue on the 
supposition that they shall obey a system .of religion 
which they consider to be nothing else than " a cun- 
ningly devised fable or that they shall submit to its 
commandments any farther than is absolutely requisite 
to promote the mean and interested ends which they 
have in view ? With equal propriety may we feel and 
express surprise that an enemy's spy, who assumes our 
dress, and makes occasional use of our language, the 
more effectually to deceive us, will not also conform 
himself to all our laws, strive to guard us from danger, 
labor to promote our prosperity, and act in every respect 
like a faithful friend and a patriotic subject. 

In all these cases, there is a gross absurdity in ex- 
pecting such a virtuous deportment as will be creditable 
to the gospel : and there is the same gross absurdity in 
imputing to the gospel the defects and iniquities of 
those who are unacquainted with it, or who do not love 
it, or who cordially reject it. The gospel surely can- 
not be made to answer for the crimes of speculatists, 
and hypocrites, and infidels, without being subjected to 
a test, which would have equally condemned it, what- 
ever had been the nature or degree of its evidence. 
We say, let it be judged of by its own intrinsic merits 
and uniform tendency ; or even let it be judged of by 
the conduct of those who have embraced it in faith, and 
love, and reality ; and we feel confident that the result 
*20 



234 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 10. 

will be decidedly favorable to its claims on our profound 
and unlimited regard. For we maintain tbat, while it 
is inherently calculated to make men " holy in all man- 
ner of conversation," it has actually produced that effect 
jn numberless instances ; and at the same time, intro- 
duced a most happy improvement of the moral senti- 
ments and behavior of those who have merely come 
within the range of its indirect and unacknowledged 
influence. 

5. That the gospel has not been more generally 
efficacious in reforming mankind, and in perfecting the 
character of its votaries, is to be accounted for in various 
ways. Without entering into any detail, however, I 
may merely mention one general principle which ap- 
pears to solve the whole difficulty. The gospel is not 
a system of compulsion. It is a dispensation given to 
beings who have a particular moral constitution ; and to 
the nature and circumstances of that constitution it is 
adapted by its infinitely wise Author. We are endovyed 
with powers of investigation, of judgment, and of choice 
— with all the powers, in short, which are necessary to 
constitute us voluntary agents ; and for the exercise of 
these powers, and in consequence of possessing them, 
we are finally responsible to God. Now on this essen- 
tial character of our condition, as subjects of God's 
moral government, the gospel is offered to us. It is 
not forced upon us by any physical necessity : its Au- 
thor does not propose to treat us as machines, and com- 
pel us to accept of it, and yield to it, in defiance of the 
very faculties and capacities with which He himself has 
invested us. He has supported it by certain evidences 
which we are called on to examine, that we may be 
rationally satisfied of its truth. He has put into it cer- 
tain doctrines and precepts, which we are required to 
investigate in order to know what they are, and in what 
sense they form a part of revelation. He has presented 
to us certain motives, not to overpower us with a sort 
of mechanical and irresistible force — but to exercise 
our affections, to work upon our hopes and our fears a 



SER. 10. NO ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 235 



our hatred and our love, in a manner accommodated to 
the original nature which he has conferred upon us as 
rational and accountable beings. And, in all these 
views, it is certainly not to be objected to the gospel, 
that many to whom it is offered should be blind to its 
excellence and its credibility ; that they should, from 
rash or perverted judgments, fall frequently into prac- 
tical error; that their passions and their prejudices 
should sometimes overcome their convictions of truth, 
and their sense of duty ; that -the objects of sense should, 
In certain circumstances of temptation and difficulty, be 
more regarded by them than the objects of faith ; that 
they should occasionally forget their obligations, neglect 
the proper means of resisting the allurements of sin, fall 
a prey to snares against which they have made no ad- 
equate provision, and ever choose the evil, while they 
despise the good that is set before them. To find 
fault, therefore, with the little comparative efficacy of 
Christianity in reclaiming and sanctifying men, is in fact 
to complain that man is constituted, as he is, a volun- 
tary and accountable agent ; or that God has not made 
Christianity a system of absolute compulsion, and thus 
destroyed the essential nature by which we are distin- 
guished from the other creatures of this world. Such 
a complaint is unquestionably foolish : but we have no 
reason to pursue the argument farther than this step to 
which we have brought it, that the failure of the gospel 
to make all men holy, is to be charged not against the 
gospel itself, but against the corruption and perversity 
of men ; who, though " light has come into the world, 
choose the darkness rather than the light, because their 
deeds are evil and who, in consequence of this undue 
preference, must, of course, continue to have " fellow- 
ship with the unprofitable and sinful works of darkness." 

We should now point out the way in which Chris- 
tians ought to act, so as that the word and the doc- 
trine of God be not blasphemed. This may be con- 
sidered as the subject which the apostle has more im- 



236 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS SER. 10. 



mediately in his eye ; and it may be comprehended 
under the following heads. 

1. There is the general duty of a practical and un- 
reserved submission to God's will as revealed in the 
gospel. 

2. There is a faithful and conscientious discharge of 
the duties which belong to the several relations in which 
we stand, and the various circumstances in which we 
are placed. 

3. There is a willing sacrifice of certain rights, and 
privileges, and comforts, on retaining which we might 
properly insist, in certain circumstances, but which it is 
incumbent upon us to forego when the cause of Chris- 
tianity requires it. 

4. There is a habitual reference to those great and 
influential principles which we have embraced as Chris- 
tians, and which are both intended and calculated, to 
produce sanctifying effects, in more than an ordinary 
measure. 

5. And there is a constant and conscious dependance 
upon the divine Spirit, which itself operates, both as a 
guard and as an incitement in the path of life ; and 
which prompts to that application by prayer for God's 
help, which we are so apt to forget, but which is neces- 
sary in order to procure for us what we thus need. 

The illustration of these particulars, however, we 
must reserve for a future discourse. 

In the mean time let us be thankful to God, that he 
has laid a foundation for our faith so strong, as to set at 
defiance' the cavils and objections of its adversaries, and 
to satisfy us that the more we examine it, the more 
reason shall we see for clinging to it and resting upon 
it. If any thing could be supposed capable of shaking 
or overturning it and all that it sustains, it would be the 
unholy conduct of those who appeal to it, as the ground 
of their hope and confidence. And yet we see that it 
remains firm and sure, in spite of all their treachery and 
inconsistency. The gospel leads us to expect such un- 



SER. 10. NO ARGUMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 237 

worthiness on their part. It does not profess to make 
them perfect in virtue as long as they are in this world. 
It only offers and promises to renovate, and sanctify, 
and improve, all who embrace it, in such a way and 
in such a degree, as may be expected from its agency 
on beings who still carry about with them the remains 
of corruption, and dwell in a world of temptation and 
wickedness. But it produces upon them a real, ex- 
tensive, moral change, which no other system has ever 
accomplished, or pretended to accomplish : it raises 
them to high attainment in the excellence which God 
approves ; and it thus gives an earnest of that sinless 
purity to which, through its instrumentality, they shall 
be exalted, in the heavenly state. 

Let us be grateful also, in so far as we have person- 
ally experienced the transforming power of the gospel. 
This is a distinguished privilege, which we can never 
sufficiently acknowledge. It is a revolution of heart 
and character essential to our ultimate salvation — to our 
comfort here, and to our happiness hereafter. It has 
been accomplished by that grace of God to which we 
could lay no claim, and which has been as gratuitous, 
as it has been efficacious. It is an indication that we 
are interested in all the benefits of Christ's redemption. 
It is itself a part of the deliverance which he has 
wrought out for us by his sufferings and death. It is 
an evidence, an experimental and convincing proof, to 
ourselves, that Christianity is from God, and that " the 
Author and finisher of our faith" is " mighty to save." 
And it affords, through the medium of our sanctifica- 
tion, a proof to others of the truth, and the virtue, and 
the efficiency, of that glorious system in which we ex- 
hort them to believe. Let us therefore offer our un- 
feigned and cordial thanksgivings to Him by whose 
grace it is that " we are what we are ;" and let us pray 
that he may enable us more and more to " prove what 
is his good, and holy, and acceptable will." 



238 IMPERFECTIONS OF CHRISTIANS. SER. 10. 



And, finally, let us strive with all our might, that 
" the word and the doctrine of God be not blasphemed." 
Though the objection we have been considering has no 
real strength in it ; though we know this from what we 
ourselves feel in our own experience, — yet, knowing 
that it is often employed by the enemies of religion, and 
that, too, with considerable success, let us be careful 
to avoid giving any color to it, or any ground for it, by 
the wickedness or the imprudence of our conduct. If 
we would show our regard for the honor and success of 
the gospel among men, we must not only be holy in the 
common and general sense of that word ; we must, 
moreover, be tender and circumspect in the whole tenor 
of our life ; we must " walk in wisdom towards them 
that are without ;" we must " abstain from the very ap- 
pearance of evil we must " let our light so shine be- 
fore men, that they seeing our good works, may glorify 
our Father which is in heaven." 



SERMON XL 



THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS IN REFERENCE 
TO THE OBJECTION FOUNDED UPON 
THEIR IMPERFECTIONS. 

1 TIMOTHY vi. 1. 

" Let as many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name 
of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed " 

The unworthy conduct of professing Christians has 
been often brought forward as an objection to the truth 
of Christianity. We have shown you, that the alleged 
fact on which the objection is grounded, has been 
greatly exaggerated. And we have also shown you, 
that the fact being, in its real extent, admitted, does 
not warrant the conclusion drawn from it ; because the 
gospel is not deficient, in its nature and tendency, to 
make its votaries holy ; and because it has actually pro- 
duced the most beneficial effects, on the moral dispo- 
sitions and character of multitudes, who have subjected 
themselves to its governing power ; and has even exer- 
cised an ameliorating influence on those who came 
merely within the sphere of its general and indirect 
operation. 



i 



240 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. SER. 11. 



But all this should not make us insensible, or indif- 
ferent, to that particular objection which we have thus 
considered and repelled. It should be our concern to 
remove every pretext for the objection — to do every 
thing which can uphold the credit of our religion, and 
to do nothing of which advantage may be taken to gain- 
say or to disparage it. It is not enough that we de- 
monstrate, however clearly and convincingly, the un- 
fairness of the attack which is made upon it by its ad- 
versaries : we should, moreover, strive to wrest from 
them the weapons which they employ for its injury or 
its destruction, and to give not the least color of justice 
to the hostility with which they assail it. We are 
called upon, by every motive of gratitude to the Saviour, 
of regard to the divine honor, and of compassion to the 
souls of men, who must be saved by Christianity, or not 
be saved at all, to abstain from all those actions and in- 
dulgences by which " the name or the doctrine of God 
may be blasphemed." This is the exhortation of the 
apostle, which we shall now endeavor to illustrate, by 
pointing out the way in which it is to be complied with, 
so as most effectually to answer the end for which it is 
given. 

1. And, in the first place, we exhort you . never to 
forget that the gospel is a practical system. It tells you 
of many things interesting in themselves, and with 
which it is important for you to be well acquainted. It 
presents to you various subjects of pleasing and useful 
meditation. It reveals doctrines on which to exercise 
your faith — examples which you are called to contem- 
plate and admire — events which may excite your won- 
der, or stimulate your curiosity, or increase your knowl- 
edge of the ways of providence — promises on which 
you may build many a delightful hope — and assurances, 
from which you may derive the sweetest consolation. 
And a religion so furnished with what is excellent and 
momentous and delightful, is something which you may 
deem it honorable, and even find it advantageous, to 
profess before the world, as that of whose truth you 



SER. 11. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 241 

are convinced, and by whose power you expect to be 
redeemed. But, though in all these respects it can 
hardly fail to have some influence on your temper and 
conduct, still its influence will be enlarged and secured 
if you habitually bear in mind, that the gospel is intend- 
ed, as well as fitted, to sanctify you ; that one of its 
leading purposes is to raise you from the debasement 
of sin ; and that its grand end cannot be accomplished 
upon you, unless it produce in you a conformity to the 
moral law, and a resemblance to the moral image of 
God. If you do not remember these things, or if your 
impression of them be feeble, indistinct, or desultory, 
then all that you have learned of Christianity, all that 
you see in it, and all that you anticipate from it, will 
have little efficacy in promoting your superiority to 
what is evil, and your cultivation of what is good. But 
by having that impression strong upon your mind, and 
by having it ever present with you, the whole record of 
the gospel will prove, at all times, in all places, and in 
all circumstances, a directory to guide you, a law to 
restrain you, and a motive to animate you, in perform- 
ing your work of righteousness and self-denial. To 
whatever part of it your attention is directed, you will 
derive from it some lesson of virtue — some lesson that 
will be of service in deepening your humility, in warm- 
ing your devotion, in invigorating your resistance to 
temptation, in elevating you above the love and the pol- 
lutions of the world, in purifying you from the corrup- 
tions of sense, in giving more integrity to your dealings, 
more cheerfulness to your patience, more strictness to 
your sobriety, more ardor, more enlargement, more activ- 
ity to your benevolence. Such lessons will accompany all 
your thoughts of Christianity, for you will be perpetually 
seeking for them, and you can never fail to discover 
them ; and they will come home to you with constrain- 
ing force, because you carry along with you the prin- 
ciple, that it is the divine purpose of Christianity to 
teach and to enforce them. When you turn your mind 
to any one of its doctrinal truths, you will consider that it 
21 



242 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



SEE. 11. 



is not only to be believed, but that it is to make you 
free, in some respect or other, from the dominion of 
iniquity. When you meet with any precept, you will 
recollect that it is not merely a proof of the perfection 
of that morality which revelation inculcates, but a rule 
for your deportment in that branch of holiness to which 
it refers. When you cast your eye upon the delinea- 
tion of a character, you will view it as not only held out 
to attract or to interest you, but as set before you to 
warn you against certain offences, or to recommend the 
practice of certain virtues. When any promise occurs 
to you as comfortable in the midst of distress, it will not 
only shed the blessing of tranquillity over your afflicted 
spirit, but it will bend your will into more perfect con- 
formity to the will of God, and stir you up to the dis- 
charge of every duty peculiar to a season of trial and 
suffering. When the prospect of heaven offers itself to 
your view, it will not only elevate and enliven you with 
hope, but it will excite you to the cultivation of that 
purity of affection and that holiness of life, which con- 
stitute your appointed meetness for the enjoyments of 
the celestial world. In short, there is nothing in the 
whole range of the gospel, however minute it may be, 
and however inconsiderable and unworthy of notice it 
may be deemed by the too speculative believer, which 
will not speak to you a language bearing, in one way or 
other, on your improvement in " whatsoever things are 
pure, or true, or lovely, or of good report." And thus, 
by continually realizing its practical character, and au- 
thority, and extent, it will exercise a ceaseless and uni- 
versal sway over your temper and conversation and 
conduct : it will produce a degree of watchfulness 
against sin, and a minuteness, as well as an extent of 
obedience, which could not otherwise have existed ; 
and it will cause you to exhibit such a holy consistency 
of behavior, as shall command the respect or win the 
forbearance of gainsayers, for that religion which makes 
you so fruitful in every good word and work. In this 



SER. 11. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



243 



way, then, see that you prevent " the name and the 
doctrine of God from being blasphemed." 

2. In the second place, with the same view we ex- 
hort you to a faithful and conscientious discharge of the 
duties which belong to the several relations in which 
you stand, and the various circumstances in which you 
are placed. There are certain duties which are com- 
mon to all men, whatever be their particular situations : 
but there are other duties, peculiar to the condition in 
which individuals, or classes of individuals, may happen 
to stand, according to the providential arrangement of 
their lot. Now while you fulfil the former with all dil- 
igence, let me entreat you to be specially careful to 
fulfil the latter also, with scrupulous and irreproachable 
fidelity. There are many who pay a decent, and per- 
haps exemplary regard, to the duties which are common 
to all, but who are found much less strict and attentive 
in the performance of their peculiar duties. And herein 
they not merely manifest a very gross and injurious 
inconsistency, but by the total neglect, or partial ob- 
servance, of those moral obligations, which are usually 
of most consequence to society, and most confidently 
expected as the result of Christian faith, they open the 
mouths of its enemies and give them occasion to speak 
evil of it. Whereas, would believers, while they study 
a general conformity to its precepts, be particularly 
strict and conscientious, in doing whatever is incumbent 
on them in the different stations which they occupy, 
their goodness would force itself upon the notice of the 
most careless, and secure the homage of the most in- 
veterate of the adversaries of the gospel. It is for this 
reason among others, that our Saviour and his apostles 
are never contented with merely inculcating holiness on 
men generally, or in terms of general import. They 
are much more circumstantial and detailed in the in- 
junctions which they issue in the name of the Lord. 
They call upon Christians, to remember the relations 
which they bear to one another, and to the world around 
them ; to consider the dispositions and the behavior 



244 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. SER. 11. 



these specially demand from them, and to feel and act 
accordingly. In our text, for example, the Apostle 
Paul specifies what is incumbent on Christian servants, 
being in the families of unbelieving masters. Persons 
in that sphere, humble as it is, are "set for the defence 
of the gospel and they defend it, when they avoid all 
undutiful conduct in their subordinate capacity, and 
show all good fidelity to those who are over them, and 
take care that nothing in their conduct as servants, give 
occasion to their masters to form an unfavorable opin- 
ion of the principles they profess, and the name by 
which they are called. And the principle which is im- 
plied in this exhortation to servants is equally applicable 
to masters. They also have their peculiar duties ; and 
in their capacity as masters, an obligation is laid on 
them to recommend the religion they profess. A master 
who has a profession of religion may rest assured, that 
every act of injustice, oppression, or wickedness on his 
part, is calculated to have a most unhappy influence on 
the mind of his servants in reference to the gospel — to 
give them false conceptions of its nature and tendency, 
and thereby to place a stumbling-block in the way of 
their reception of its message, which all his exactness 
in the discharge of the other duties of his profession 
will be unable to remove. In the same manner, and 
with the same view, we may address the exhortation to 
individuals in all the various relations of life — to hus- 
bands and wives, to parents and children, to rulers and 
subjects, to neighbors and friends, to spiritual shep- 
herds, and the flocks over whom God has made them 
overseers. To persons in each of these relative con- 
ditions, there belongs a certain class of duties ; and to 
the performance of these duties, according to our re- 
spective places and relations, we must devote ourselves 
with singular activity and care, if we would consult 
the honor of Christianity, and ward off from it the 
reproaches of worldly and unbelieving men. 

Nor is this all. The circumstances, as well as the 
relations of life, come under the government of the rule 



SER. 11. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 245 

we are considering. If you are poor, and in your pov- 
erty are discontented, idle, and envious; if you are 
rich, and amidst your riches, are proud, and worldly, 
extravagant, and niggardly ; if you are sick, and, under 
the pressure of sickness, are impatient and fretful; if 
you are in health, and unmindful withal of your liability 
to disease and to death ; if you are in prosperity, and 
forgetful of the vanity of all that is in the world, and speak 
and act as if your mountain were never to be brought 
low, and as if your cup were to be always running over ; 
if you are in adversity, and do not consider whose hand 
it is that has disappointed and reduced you, and take 
unlawful means to recover your lost fortunes, and are 
as much disheartened as if the world were your all ; if 
you are possessed of power, and make use of it to pro- 
mote your own aggrandizement, and are haughty and 
supercilious to your inferiors, and forget to employ your 
distinction for the protection of the injured and the in- 
nocent ; if you have no influence and no authority over 
others, and are dissatisfied that you are destitute of such 
advantages, and cherish a spirit of insubordination, and 
look with a scowling eye on those who wield the scep- 
tre of dominion, or command homage by their talents or 
their station ; if you exhibit these sentiments and this 
conduct, then you may be in other points of character, 
" blameless and harmless and without rebuke," but the 
foes of Christianity w ill fasten on the failings and offences 
with which you are thus chargeable, where you should 
have been particularly ambitious to excel, and will 
mock at the pretensions of a religion, which leaves its 
votaries so subject to corrupt and unholy passions, and 
so like those by whom its truth is unacknowledged, and 
its influence unfelt. But on the other hand, if your 
conduct corresponds with your lot, whatever it may be ; 
if you would manifest those graces which are proper 
and suitable to it ; if, in the variety of conditions through 
which it may be necessary for you to pass, you are 
adorned with those virtues which they severally and 
successively require ; if in want you are contented and 

m 



246 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. SER. 11. 



industrious; if in abundance you are humble and 
heavenly-minded, while your heart deviseth and your 
hand executeth liberal things ; if in affliction you are 
patient and resigned under the mighty hand of God ; if 
in bodily health and outward fortune, all is well and 
flourishing with you, and you are active in improving 
your opportunities of usefulness, and are sympathizing 
with those of your brethren who are doomed to travel 
in a more thorny path ; and if you are " using the world 
and not abusing it," recollecting the evanescent nature 
of its fashions and its joys ; if invested with power and 
influence over # others, you employ these advantages in 
guarding them from oppression and injury, and in pro- 
moting their substantial welfare ; if obscure and lonely, 
you have more to do with obedience than with com- 
mands, and yet grieve not that it is so, but cheerfully 
acquiesce in the arrangement which has made you in- 
significant, and are ready at all times to " give honor 
to whom honor is due," and to set your heart on that 
superiority which the humblest may attain, and which 
consists in a good conscience and a holy life ; if you 
are seen acting in this manner, the gospel, by whose 
operation it is that you are constrained and enabled to 
show forth such truly and minutely appropriate charac- 
ters of excellence, will commend itself to the respect 
and esteem of those who would otherwise have accused 
it of moral inefficiency, and who would have made your 
misconduct the handle for traducing and rejecting it. 
In this way, then, be entreated to labor, that " the name 
of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." 

3. In the third place, we exhort you to make a will- 
ing sacrifice even of certain privileges and comforts, 
when the exigencies of the case require it, though, in 
ordinary circumstances, you would be warranted in re- 
fusing to make it if it were demanded. " Let as many 
servants as are under the yoke," says the apostle, 
" count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the 
name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." It 
was a common allegation at the commencement of 



SER. 11. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



247 



Christianity, that it loosened the bonds of civil life, and 
relieved those who embraced it from obligations, which 
are essential to the existence and welfare of society. 
And, perhaps, the conduct of some individuals, pro- 
ceeding from ignorance, or from selfishness, might give 
some color and plausibility to this charge. Now the 
apostle sets himself here, as in other parts of his writ- 
ings, to remove this cause of stumbling and offence, by 
urging Christians not only to be faithful in the duties of 
their calling, but even to forego advantages which they 
might justly claim, in order that the credit of the gospel 
might not suffer at their hands. At the period referred 
to, servants were universally in a state of slavery, they 
were " under the yoke" as it is here expressed. This 
was a violation of the natural and essential rights of 
man ; and implies a dominion which no individual of 
our species is entitled to exercise over another. But 
those who suffered from such an outrage, were not 
probably aware of the radical injustice and monstrous 
evil to which they were thereby subjected. When the 
gospel, however, was revealed to them—- enlightening 
them as to the true value and dignity of the human 
soul — breathing a spirit of equity and love — and incul- 
cating maxims which were incompatible with the bond- 
age of a single rational being — they felt the desire of 
liberty spring up in their bosoms, and they were tempt- 
ed to gratify it, by abandoning the servitude to which 
they had hitherto submitted. And in doing so, they 
would have acted agreeably to the impulse of nature, to 
the dictates of reason, to the pervading tone and general 
principles of Christianity. But then if Christianity was 
true, as they believed it to be, and if it was of infinite 
importance, as they professed to regard it, their personal 
immunities and comforts should not be put in competi- 
tion with its interests and prosperity, and prevalence 
in the world. And, therefore, as they happened to be 
" under the yoke," and as any violent attempt to gain 
their freedom would be employed to the prejudice of 



248 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. SER. 11, 



the gospel, and might increase the opposition, already 
so formidable, to its progress and establishment, the 
apostle counselled them to continue as they were ; and 
though their masters were holding them in slavery, and 
moreover had not been privileged to know and to be- 
lieve " the truth as it is in Jesus," but were still involved 
in ignorance and error, and in the sight of God far be- 
low the level of those over whom they tyrannised, yet 
" to count them worthy of all honor," to obey them as 
heretofore, to execute all their lawful commands, and 
to do nothing that could give unnecessary offence. 

Now, my friends, you see from this what is incum- 
bent on you all. It is of no consequence whether you 
be masters or servants, whether you stand in one rela- 
tion or in another. The principle here illustrated com- 
prehends the whole. While you recollect what is due 
to yourselves, you must recollect still more what is due 
to the gospel. Think well of its truth, of its value, of 
its influence on human happiness, of its necessity to 
man's salvation,, of the enmity it has to encounter, of 
the obligations you are under to support it, of the en- 
couragements you have to do much and to endure 
much for its prosperity. Think of these things, and 
you will not marvel at the exhortation given by the 
apostle to those servants who were " under the yoke ;" 
and you will not resist the exhortation as addressed to 
you in that application of its meaning, which is called 
for by your several and peculiar circumstances. Which 
of you does not acknowledge himself bound by every 
strong and endearing tie, to labor for the furtherance 
of the gospel ? Which of you can hesitate, for this 
purpose, to cultivate those moral virtues, which, in 
consequence of their being prescribed by the divine 
law, must be practised, independently of their effects 
on the belief and obedience of others ? And which 
of you can, consistently with his Christian privileges, 
his Christian profession, his Christian experience, re- 
fuse to lay his all, when the cause of the gospel requires 



SER. 11. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



249 



it, at the foot of the cross, and there consecrate it to 
the honor of that holy name by which he is called, and 
to the support of that blessed doctrine which maketh 
" wise unto salvation ?" If the apostle went so far as 
to exhort those who were " under the yoke" to con- 
tinue without murmuring, to drink the bitter cup of 
slavery, surely we do not go too far when we insist 
upon your exercising all those acts of self-denial, and 
offering all those sacrifices, which can possibly be 
exacted from Christians in these lands, and in these 
days, for the sake of their religion. And the effect of 
such generous conduct cannot fail to be most bene- 
ficial, in "putting to silence the ignorance of those 
foolish men," who, because they can speak of you as 
evil-doers, would speak also of Christianity as consist- 
ent with evil-doing. It is well when they see you dis- 
charging faithfully and diligently those duties which are 
taught and enjoined in the moral law, or which are 
specified in the preceptive part of the gospel. But it 
is better still, when they see you taking a higher and 
more liberal aim ; and far from standing on rights 
which human authority would vindicate for you, and 
which the common feelings and understanding of man- 
kind would justify you in seeking and asserting, ready 
to surrender them with cheerfulness, when, but for this 
surrender, the credit of religion would be brought into 
suspicion, and its success arrested, or its influence 
impaired. When they see you thus disinterested, and 
thus munificent, in your contendings for its prosperity, 
they not only believe you to be sincere in the attach- 
ment which you profess to feel for it, but they perceive 
it to be a powerful and efficacious instrument for sub- 
duing all the selfish passions of our nature, for raising 
men to degrees of virtue and of righteousness which 
cannot be reached under the direction and energy of 
ordinary motives, and for forming them to the love and 
the pursuit of those excellencies which are equally 
ornamental to the individuals by whom they are culti- 



250 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. SER. 11. 



vated, and useful to the society whose character and 
whose interests they are calculated to affect. So that 
unless their hatred towards the gospel is unquenchable 
and unless they are determined to show their hostility 
to it in spite of the most powerful recommendations by 
which it can be pressed upon their regard, they will 
not only treat it with forbearance — they will not only 
refrain from blaspheming or speaking evil of it, and 
laboring in that way to counteract its influence and its 
progress in the world, but they may also be led to 
think of it with secret reverence, to inquire into the 
more direct and conclusive evidences of its divinity, 
and to deal with it in such a manner, as to give fair 
promise of becoming, through God's blessing, believers 
in its doctrine, subjects of its power, and promoters of 
its universal propagation. 

I should now proceed to exhort you, in the fourth 
place, to live habitually under the influence of those 
great and peculiar principles which you have em- 
braced as Christians, and which are both intended 
and fitted to produce sanctifying effects in more than 
on ordinary measure. But this particular, and some 
others, I must reserve as the subject of another dis- 
course. 

Let me now conclude with reminding you, that 
though you are to labor and to sacrifice much, in order 
that " the name of God and his doctrine be not blas- 
phemed," this must not be regarded as the sole, nor 
even the chief, motive for your holy walk and con- 
versation. Such an idea would produce simulation 
and hypocrisy — an effect which would not only render 
all your exertions useless as to yourselves, but, on 
being detected, would defeat the object you had in 
view, and increase the enmity, and add to the triumphs 
of the adversaries of the gospel. Study to be Chris- 
tians in heart and in reality. Live in the faith of Jesus, 
in dependance on his righteousness, and in obedience 
to his will, whether men see you or not. Labor to 



SER. 11. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



251 



approve yourselves to God, and to prepare for immor- 
tality. And think only of the good and of the evil 
which your conduct is capable of producing on the 
fortunes of Christianity, that you may have one motive 
more, and that a most interesting and efficacious mo- 
tive, for determining you, to deny yourselves to every 
species, and every degree, and every appearance, of 
sinful indulgence, and for exciting you to strive to be 
righteous before God and before men, " walking in all 
the commandments, and in all the ordinances of the 
Lord blameless." 



SERMON XII. 



THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS IN REFERENCE 
TO THE OBJECTION FOUNDED UPON 
THEIR IMPERFECTIONS. 

1 TIMOTHY vi. 1. 

" Let as many servants as are under the yoke count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name 
of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed " 

After showing you, at considerable length, that the 
misconduct of professing Christians forms no valid ob- 
jection to the gospel itself, we remarked that this should 
not make us indifferent to the objection, or treat it as 
if it were of no moment, and possessed no influence. 
On the contrary, we should be anxious to meet the ob- 
jection, by removing the ground upon which it is made 
to rest, — to do every thing which can uphold the credit 
of our religion, and to do nothing of which advantage 
may be taken to gainsay or to disparage it. It is not 
enough that we demonstrate, however clearly and con- 
vincingly, the unfairness of the attack which is made 
upon it by its adversaries ; we should, moreover, strive 
to wrest from them the very weapons which they em- 
ploy for its injury or its destruction, and to give not the 



SER. 12. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



253 



least color or appearance of justice to the hostility with 
which they assail it. We are called upon by every 
motive of gratitude to the Saviour, of regard to the 
divine honor, and of compassion to the souls of men, 
who must be saved by Christianity or not be saved at all, 
to abstain from all those actions and indulgences by 
which, the " name or the doctrine of God may be blas- 
phemed." This is the exhortation of the apostle; and 
we proposed to illustrate it, by pointing out the way in 
which it is to be complied with, so as most effectually 
to answer the end for which it is given. And, in pros- 
ecution of this object, we observed, in the first place, 
that amidst all your regards for the gospel, you should 
never forget, that it is a practical system, designed to 
produce in you a conformity to the moral law, and a 
resemblance to the moral image of God. By steadily 
regarding it in this light, you will give it an authority 
over every part of your conduct, and effectually dis- 
comfit the enemies of the gospel, who will find it im- 
possible, from any thing they observe in you, to " blas- 
pheme the name or the doctrine of God." 

In the second place, we remarked, that you should 
apply yourselves to a faithful and conscientious dis- 
charge of the peculiar duties which belong to the sev- 
eral relations in which you stand, and to the various 
circumstances in which you are placed. You must not 
merely be holy in general, but you must be holy in 
your particular calling, connexion, or condition ; as 
masters or as servants, as parents or as children, as 
rulers or as subjects, in poverty or in riches, in pros- 
perity or in adversity, in health or in sickness. In this 
way you are to recommend the gospel, by displaying its 
practical worth and beneficial moral tendency, by de- 
monstrating that it is not a scheme of speculative opin- 
ions and of barren faith, but a system of substantial 
purity and genuine excellence, accommodated to man 
with the constitution of which he is possessed, and in 
all the situations in which he can be placed. Thus 
22 



254 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. SER. 12. 



also, are you to labor that " the name and the doctrine 
of God be not blasphemed." 

We remarked, in the third place, as more particu- 
larly suggested by the text, that you must make a 
willing sacrifice, even of certain privileges and com- 
forts, when the exigencies of the case require it, though, 
in ordinary circumstances, you would be warranted in 
refusing such a sacrifice, if it were demanded. Such 
generous and disinterested conduct must have the 
effect, not only of removing prejudices against the gos- 
pel, but of producing a positive impression in its favor, 
by showing that Christians, while they strive to submit 
to its practical authority in every thing, are also willing 
to yield this submission at the expense of many things 
which in justice they might successfully claim, and inno- 
cently enjoy. In this way, then, are we to be instru- 
mental in preventing "the name of God and his doc- 
trine from being blasphemed." 

4. I would now, in the fourth place, exhort you to 
live with a habitual reverence to those great and pecu- 
liar principles by which Christianity is distinguished and 
characterised. 

Your conduct, indeed, must be more or less influ- 
enced by these principles, or you would not, properly 
speaking, be Christians at all. You might do many 
things which are in the letter agreeable to God's law, 
and avoid many things which that law, in its letter, for- 
bids ; and your character might exhibit what the out- 
ward observer would pronounce to be holy. But still, 
unless all that you thus did and manifested, proceeded 
from those considerations which are peculiar to the gos- 
pel, it would not amount to the holiness which that dis- 
pensation is intended to produce in its votaries. By- 
Christian principles, then, you must, if Christians, be 
habitually actuated and governed. 

But the counsel T would offer you, is that the proper 
principles of the gospel be fondly cherished by you — 
be kept constantly present to your minds — and be ap- 
pealed and yielded to at every step of your pilgrimage. 



SER. 12. 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



255 



You must not be contented with having merely em- 
braced them — with giving them the homage of your 
understanding and your heart when they become the 
subjects of your converse or meditation — with defend- 
ing them from the attacks of those who would regard 
them as unscriptural and irrational — or with drawing 
from them the blessings of hope and consolation. 
They must exercise a perpetual mastery over your de- 
sires and your doings. Every suggestion which they 
give, must be received. Every action to which they 
prompt, must be performed. Every restraint which 
they impose, must be submitted to. Every sacrifice 
which they dictate, must be made. And your thoughts 
must be so intensely directed to them, and you must be so 
unceasingly conscious of their operation, and you must 
have such an abiding sense of their excellence and im- 
portance, that wherever you are, and in whatever you 
are engaged, you will experience their animating, or 
their controlling power. 

You may be well acquainted with the whole range 
of moral duty, and may be able to say at once what it 
comprehends and what it excludes, and to adduce 
evangelical reasons, for doing the one, and not doing 
the other — and all this may produce in you a great de- 
gree of self-denial, and righteousness, and respectability. 
But still we have to desiderate the unremitting applica- 
tion of Christian principles, which will not only serve to 
make you holy as it were by instinct, but will impart 
an energy and an unction to your holiness, and render 
it far more substantial, far more perfect, and far more 
attractive. We not merely desire to see a real con- 
nexion subsisting between those principles and that 
holiness ; but we desire to see, moreover, such a cher- 
ished consciousness of that connexion, as that the for- 
mer may be sending forth incessantly their strongest 
influences upon the latter, and pervade every depart- 
ment, and regulate every action of the life. 

Let us illustrate this view of the subject by a few 
examples. If the victim of poverty present himself 



256 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



SEE.. 12. 



before you, and supplicate your aid, you know it to be 
an incumbent duty to relieve him if you can: and 
though you had nothing to guide or govern you but a 
scripture precept, you would, in obedience to it, per- 
form the good work. But would not you perform it 
more readily, and more cheerfully, if you remembered 
" the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he 
was rich, for your sakes became poor, that ye, through 
His poverty, might be made rich?" And would not 
your heart glow with a warmer sympathy still, and 
would not your alms be more liberal, and would not a 
greater tenderness breathe throughout your words of 
compassion, if you felt, as well as remembered, the 
grace of the Redeemer, if you realized Him in all the 
depth of his condescension, and in all the fulness of 
his mercy, and if at the moment when your charity 
was implored for a suffering fellow-creature, your 
heart had dwelling in it, and working in it, the faith, 
and the love, and the admiration of a suffering Saviour? 

Again, suppose you are tempted to indulge in some- 
thing which wears the aspect of sinfulness, but not so 
decidedly as at once to alarm and deter you : it would 
not be difficult for you to find in your store of scriptural 
maxims, and in your general convictions of right and 
wrong, sufficient reason for abstaining from it. But had 
you to seek for these, and were you left to form a judg- 
ment after deliberate and lengthened consideration, the 
temptation might have subdued you, before you had 
come to a decision, or at least your preservation might 
not have been secured without a dangerous struggle. 
On the other hand, had you been in the habit of contem- 
plating the cross of Christ, of beholding in it the exceed- 
ing turpitude of sin, which required his death to expiate 
it, of considering yourselves as bought with the price 
of his precious blood — then the case would not have 
admitted of a moment's hesitation; your conscience 
would have been tender; you could not have borne the 
thought of " crucifying the Lord afresh ;" and you 
would have retreated from the very risk of sinning, and 



SER. 12. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



257 



from the very " appearance of evil," more than, on other 
principles, you would have done from a visible and un- 
equivocal transgression. 

Again, were there some course of duty set before 
you, accompanied with difficulty, and danger, and dis- 
tress, acting as Christians you would doubtless enter 
upon it, and persevere in it, and finish it. But there 
would be little liveliness and little vigor in your exer- 
tions, while you took merely a distant or a desultory 
view of the motives which should stimulate and urge 
you on. If, on the contrary, your minds were pre- 
viously familiar with those truths in the history of re- 
demption which must powerfully affect the springs of 
mora] action — if you nourished in your bosom the idea 
of God's redeeming love, manifested in the mission and 
the sacrifice of his own Son — if you were accustomed 
to look up to him as propitiated, and reconciled, and 
invested with all the benignity and affection of a parent 
—if a sense of the endearing obligation thus laid upon 
you, were matter, not of occasional, but of daily, hourly 
unceasing experience — in that case, with what alacrity 
would you undertake the duties required of you ! how 
delighted would you be to have them as the means of 
testifying your gratitude and devotedness to the author 
of your mercies ! what zeal, what fidelity, what activity, 
what constancy would you display in the performance of 
them ! and how patiently would you endure all the suf- 
ferings you had to bear ! and how resolutely would you 
struggle with all the obstacles that opposed your progress 
in the paths of righteousness ! 

Now, if a habitual reference to the peculiar principles 
of the gospel be calculated to produce such a holy effect, 
it must tend directly and greatly to aid the object of the 
apostle's exhortation. It will do so in a twofold way. 
First, it will secure a far greater degree of excellence 
in the character of Christians. There will be a more 
decided resistance to temptation, and a more scrupulous 
and careful abstinence from every thing that partakes 
of moral delinquency. There will be a more conscien- 
*22 



258 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. SER. 12, 



tious, and more active, and more assiduous cultivation 
of every public and every private virtue. There will 
be a higher tone of feeling, and a higher style of acting, 
than are usually exhibited, even among those who are 
admired and commended for their personal worth. 
And thus, not only will there be an absence of those 
offensive qualities — those unbecoming tempers — those 
unworthy practices which, when they appear in pro- 
fessing Christians, cause " the name and the doctrine 
of God to be blasphemed," but there will be a display 
of those positive excellencies — those beauties of holi- 
ness, which even the wicked regard with some portion 
of reverence and esteem, and which forbid them to 
speak, or to think, evil of that system with which they 
are associated. And, secondly, there is a more inti- 
mate connexion established between Christianity and 
Christians, in the judgment of those who witness their 
conduct. If Christians refer to the gospel, merely as a 
system of morals, they are not doing it justice ; and 
though they should succeed in protecting it, in that 
character, from the reproach, or even in recommending 
it to the adoption, of those who have hitherto opposed 
it, they would not thereby act fully up to their obliga- 
tions ; for in that limited character, it is not the gospel 
as proceeding from the wisdom and the grace of God. 
But when they are seen adorned with the manifold 
attributes of moral virtue — with all that is pure, and 
lovely, and of good report ; when they can appeal to 
the peculiar principles of Christianity, as the source 
frorn which such distinctions proceed ; and when the 
relation of the one to the other is made apparent and 
undeniable, then, not only are the mouths of gainsayers 
stopped, but they are taught to admire Christianity as 
a system of sanctifying truth, as well as a system of 
practical duty, and viewing it as calculated, by its pe- 
culiar nature, to renovate, to purify, to ennoble, frail 
and fallen man, they may, by the divine blessing, be 
constrained to exchange the language of blasphemy for 
the accents of praise, and to give glory to God's name 



SER. 12. 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



259 



which is holy, and to believe in his doctrine which is 
"a doctrine according to godliness," because it is a 
doctrine of free and saving grace. 

5. In the fifth place, I would exhort you to be much 
given to the exercise of prayer. 

I take it for granted that you do not neglect this duty, 
because, if you neglect it, you are not the real disciples 
of Jesus. There may be a professor of Christianity, 
but there is no sincere or real Christian, who is a 
stranger to prayer — who is destitute of its spirit, or by 
whom it is practically disregarded. This is evident, 
both from its own nature and from the manner in which 
it is commanded and enforced; and experience, as 
well as scripture, demonstrates the necessity of its 
forming a regular and constituent part of a religious life. 

But, if you have seriously attended to the connexion 
which subsists between prayer and practice, and to what 
you yourselves must have felt and observed in reference 
to it, you cannot but be aware, that many of the defects 
by which your practice has been marked, have arisen 
from your remissness in the duty of prayer ; that the 
less intercourse of this kind you held with your heavenly 
Father, the more apt have you been to listen to the 
voice of temptation, and to be overcome by it; that it 
was often by forgetting to go to the throne of grace, and 
to supplicate there the wisdom, and the strength, and 
the blessing which you needed, that you were over- 
taken in those faults which have wounded your own 
conscience, and given occasion to the enemies of re- 
ligion to blaspheme ; that, in short, had there been more 
devotion, there would have been more purity of mind, 
more vigilance against the snares of the world, more 
strenuous endeavors to maintain a conscience and a con- 
duct void of offence, more actual and abundant attain- 
ments in Christian holiness. 

Nor is it difficult to see how a failure in the one 
should be necessarily productive of failures in the other 
department of your Christian calling. Prayer is en- 



260 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. SER. 12. 



joined as plainly, and as peremptorily, as any moral 
virtue which you are called to practise. It is pressed 
upon you by similar obligations ; it is recommended by 
similar motives ; it issues in similar results. It is as 
necessary as the other, to form the aggregate of your 
obedience to God's will upon earth, and of your pre- 
paration for his presence in heaven. And this being 
the case, you cannot be remiss in it, or forgetful of it, 
without violating what you owe to him, as your Lord 
and King. But withholding submission to him in one 
thing, naturally leads to withholding submission to him 
in another. The claim of his high authority, or of his 
redeeming love being once deliberately resisted, you 
become a more easy prey to sinful allurements, though 
they beset you in a different quarter, and lead you to 
partake of a different indulgence. If you do not pray, 
though God commands you, and beseeches you to do 
so, what is there to restrain you from transgression in 
something else, if you be tempted to it, where there is 
no other barrier, or no barrier more impassable than 
that which you have already violated — the command- 
ment and the entreaty of a great and merciful God. 
Be assured, my friends, that all the principles, and all 
the practices of moral obedience, or of spiritual submis- 
sion to the divine will, are so intimately and closely 
linked together, that you cannot dispense with one of 
them without being thereby more easily persuaded to 
surrender another. The whole is a sacred and con- 
nected territory, and if you allow the tempter to invade 
and to establish himself in any corner of it, you facili- 
tate his conquest of any position he may choose to 
attack, or wish to occupy. Prayer is as much a duty 
as any thing else that is required of you in the law of 
God ; and to neglect it, implies a disregard of those 
principles and motives which secure the performance of 
every other duty, and therefore prepares the way for 
neglecting any observance which interferes with our 
worldly interest or worldly pleasure. 



SER. 12. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



261 



But farther, prayer is an instituted means of becom- 
ing, and continuing, holy. You cannot keep yourselves 
from sin, or secure your progress in the paths of 
righteousness, by any resources of your own. This is 
one melancholy feature of your fallen state — declared 
in the scriptures of truth, and evinced in every man's 
personal history. And we have reason to bless God, 
that while the gospel acknowledges the fact, the gospel 
also makes suitable provision for remedying the evil 
which it implies. It promises to supply the want by 
imparting the strength that is needed, [t points out the 
source from which the requisite aid is to be derived. 
And it distinctly intimates that prayer is the instrument 
by which you are to apply for it, and the medium 
through which you are to obtain it. Now, if in this 
point you be careless and negligent, what can be the 
result, but a proportional declension in the ways of holi- 
ness ? If the appointed means be not adequately em- 
ployed, how can you expect to secure the end which is 
offered only on these terms? And I do not merely, in 
this view, insist on the necessity of general supplica- 
tion, as if that were sufficient — as if it were quite 
enough to be sensible of general weakness in the spirit- 
ual frame, and to offer up a general petition for the 
communication of corresponding strength. It is proba- 
bly from this mode of indulging in generalities on the 
subject, that, even where individuals are regular, and 
frequent, and fervent in their devotions, there is so much 
backsliding, and so little progress. If you have a par- 
ticular duty to perform, and yet do not ask grace, and 
direction, and help, in reference to that particular duty, 
no wonder that there is a failure in the degree of purity 
and perfection with which you discharge it. And, if 
you be tempted to any particular sin, and yet do not 
implore appropriate guidance and aid, so that you may 
be enabled to avoid that particular sin, it cannot be 
greatly marvelled at, that you should be betrayed into 
the commission of it. In this manner, neglect of 
prayer, or an undue observance of it, as a means or- 



262 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. SER. 12. 



dained by Him, to whom it is addressed, for guarding 
us against transgression, and carrying on the process of 
sanctification with vigor and success, must be attended 
with many of those moral failings and aberrations which 
bring disrepute on our religion, as well as impair the 
character, and disturb the peace, of those who are 
guilty of them. 

There is still another consideration illustrative of this 
point which deserves attention. A life of prayer is 
calculated, in its own nature, to purify the heart and 
elevate the character. In the course of that life you 
spend much time in communion with that Being who is 
" glorious in holiness 1 ' — in contemplating his perfec- 
tions, which are all in league against sin — in referring 
to his will which has declared itself " against all un- 
righteousness, and ungodliness of men" — in appealing 
to that revelation of his mercy in the gospel, which so 
illustrates his hatred of iniquity, and his love of moral 
excellence, in the scheme which it unfolds for your de- 
liverance from the one and your restoration to the other. 
And in coming from your devotional intercourse with 
God, you come as it were from heaven, where all that 
you have seen, and all that you have learned, and all 
that you have felt, is holy; where the atmosphere 
which you breathed is purity itself; and where you 
were furnished with the spirit that shall lift you above 
the corruptions of the world, and animate you to the 
cultivation of all that is virtuous and good. But if you 
allow yourselves to be perpetually, or disproportionately, 
occupied with worldly things, with sensible objects, with 
common duties, detached from the influence and the 
exercises of devotion — if you be maintaining much con- 
verse with the creature, of whom imperfection and sin 
are characteristic, and little with the Creator, whose 
nature, and character, and purposes, and plans, are all 
distinguished by unspotted purity and rectitude — it can- 
not fail to happen that your conduct will partake of the 
qualities of that to which you have given such an undue 



3ER. 12. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



263 



preference, that there will not be such a scrupulous and 
determined resistance to the allurements of sin, as more 
devotional habits would have secured, that there will 
not be the same relish for high attainments in virtue, and 
the same eager and animated efforts to become " holy 
even as God himself is holy," that there will be more 
of those short-comings and trespasses which give a han- 
dle to the blasphemer, and fewer of those amiable 
graces, and unequivocal excellencies, of deportment, 
which might have checked his blasphemy, or converted 
it into praise. 

We exhort you, therefore, in whatever situation you 
are, and whatever be the advances you have made in 
your Christian course, to be " instant in prayer," — to 
" pray without ceasing," — " in every thing by prayer 
and supplication, with thanksgiving to make your re- 
quests known unto God." This will help to purify all 
the springs of conduct — to elevate your views and 
affections above every thing base and polluted. Tt will 
procure for you from on high " the whole armor of 
God," by which you will be protected from the assaults 
of temptation, and enabled to subdue the enemies that 
would drive or seduce you from the ways of righteous- 
ness. And thus, by its indirect influence, and the 
divine help which it procures, it will enable you to act 
habitually, so that through you " the name of God, and 
his doctrine shall not be blasphemed." 

6. In the last place, we exhort you to live habitually 
under the powers of the world to come. 

So much and so intimately are we connected with 
this world, that nothing can deliver us from it, or lift us 
above it, but the faith which carries our views into a 
future world, and brings before us its great and mo- 
mentous realities. And it uniformly happens, that in 
proportion as we neglect to give our faith that direc- 
tion, or rest satisfied with a feeble or a partial exercise 
of it, in that proportion do we languish in our Christian 
efforts, and allow sin to regain its ascendancy over us. 



264 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. SER. 12. 



Every one of us must have observed this in the case of 
others. Every one must have experienced it in his 
own case. It arises from the very nature and circum- 
stances of human beings. And though the believer is 
rescued from the dominion of iniquity, and of this 
present evil world, yet it is a part of the salvation 
wrought out for him, that his views are directed to 
eternity ; and his conduct will, in a great measure, de- 
pend on the frequency and the intensity with which he 
looks forward to it, and on the submissiveness with 
which he yielded to that practical influence which it is 
fitted to exert upon his whole deportment. Of the nu- 
merous instances, in which you have indulged in for- 
bidden gratification, or transgressed the rule of duty, 
there are not a few, I am confident, in which were you 
asked, why you thus sinned, you would answer, be- 
cause, for the time, you had banished futurity from 
your view, and did not think, as you ought to have 
thought, of the strict account you have to render, and 
of the everlasting destiny which awaits you. 

Let me, then, entreat you to retain, and to cherish in 
your minds, a settled impression of eternity. Remem- 
ber that you have to undergo a great change, and to 
encounter a solemn reckoning at the tribunal of a 
righteous and heart-searching Judge. Remember that 
you have to answer for "the deeds done in the body, 
whether they be good or bad." Remember that your 
responsibility embraces not only your conduct consid- 
ered in itself, but also as it affects the conduct and the 
fate of your fellow-men, and the interests of the gospel 
in a present state. And let these things awaken in you 
a solemn concern, not merely that you may be pre- 
pared by a life of faith, and piety, and holiness, for the 
great scene that lies before you, but that you may ab- 
stain from even the slightest transgression which would 
either lay a stumbling-block in the way of a Christian 
brother, or prove a ground of offence and of blasphem- 
ing to "them that are without." Think of the hell 



SER. 12. CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 265 

which awaits the wicked, that you may see what " an 
evil and a bitter thing it is to sin against God," since it 
leads him to condemn many of his rational creatures 
who have committed it, and have not had it washed 
away, to unspeakable and never-ending misery; and 
seeing that the ways and the issue of it are death, that 
you may tremble at his word, and keep yourselves from 
the abominable thing which he hates with so perfect a 
hatred. Think of the heaven, into which they, that 
have turned unto the Lord, and have walked in the 
ways of his commandments, are finally introduced, 
that from the contemplation of all the holiness and hap- 
piness which it presents to the believer's eye, you may 
derive that divine influence which shall reach into your 
heart, and pervade all your actions, and hedge you in to 
the path of cheerful and devoted obedience, and lead 
you to " purify yourselves even as God himself is 
pure." Think of the shortness and the uncertainty of 
life, of which not merely every passing year, but every 
passing day, affords you the most striking proofs, that 
you may not be tempted to lose one opportunity that is 
afforded you for performing the work of righteousness 
— that you may be determined to redeem the time 
which you have already wasted, that you may not 
spend one moment more in forbidden indulgence — 
that, neither in word nor in deed, you may be the 
occasion of exposing the doctrine of God to ridicule 
or reproach — that you may justify your highest pro- 
fession by the purest practice, and " let your light so 
shine before men, that they may see your good works, 
and glorify your Father which is in heaven." And, 
my brethren, living thus by faith in the Son of God, 
consecrating yourselves to that service of His in which 
sin and Satan have no share, and contributing to the 
diffusion and the establishment of the gospel of salva- 
tion, every coming day, as it arrives, will find you 
ready for your departure, because it will find you walk- 
ing as the redeemed and the sanctified of the Lord ; — 
23 



266 



CHRISTIAN OBLIGATIONS. 



SER. 12. 



and whether you be servants or masters, rich or poor, 
young or old, mighty or mean, yet, having " kept the 
faith," and "finished your course," and proved a 
blessing to many that were ignorant and perishing, 
death, be it lingering or be it sudden, shall only re- 
move you from a scene that is restless and polluted, 
to that land of purity and of bliss, where " they that 
are wise shall shine as the firmament, and they that 
have turned many to righteousness, as the stars forever 
and ever." 



SERMON X1IL* 



ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 

MATTHEW vii. 7. 

" AsJc> and it shall be given you." 

We have frequently addressed you on the subject of 
prayer ; but in the present discourse we propose merely 
to illustrate some of the encouragements that are afford- 
ed for engaging in this exercise. 

God commands us to pray to him ; not leaving it to 
our own discretion whether we shall pray or not — but 
positively and expressly enjoining the duty as requisite, 
equally as an act of homage due to himself, and as the 
means of securing our own welfare. But though con- 
vinced that we must pray, if we would render obedience 
to the divine authority, and promote the safety and 
well-being of our souls, still there are various consider- 
ations to which it is expedient to attend, and under 
whose constraining influence it is necessary to act, in 
order that we may engage in that exercise freely, 
cheerfully, and confidently — that we may enjoy all the 



* Preached in St. George's Church, Edinburgh, on Sabbath, 7th No- 
vember, 1830, before the celebration of the Lord's Supper. 



268 



ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 13. 



satisfaction and pleasure with which it ought to be 
accompanied — and that we may completely surmount 
those hindrances and interruptions, which not only tend 
to distress the young and inexperienced Christian, but 
even have the effect of occasionally impairing the devo- 
tion of those who are most confirmed in the ways of 
piety. It is to the considerations in question that we 
mean at present to direct your thoughts, in the hope 
that they may contribute to your improvement in a 
most important branch of the Christian character, and 
that they may derive both illustration and force from 
the solemn service in which we are this day to be more 
immediately engaged. 

I. In the first place, let it be remembered, that the 
God to whom you pray is as willing and ready, as he 
is able, to bestow upon you the blessings that you need 
and ask. 

Of his power to answer your prayers, it is impossible 
for you to doubt. He is absolute proprietor of the 
universe. Every thing in it, material and immaterial 
is at his sovereign disposal. And he can give it in the 
measure, and in the mode, and in the season, that seem 
good in his sight. All this your minds admit, without 
the least hesitation. But whether he may be pleased 
to exert his omnipotence in communicating what you 
entreat of him, is a different question. And when you 
think of the separation which sin has made between 
you and him ; when you look to him as a holy, and a 
just, and a jealous God ; and when you think of the 
demerit which he sees in your character, and of the 
provocations by which you have awakened his dis- 
pleasure, and given him reason to send you a curse 
instead of a blessing — it is not unnatural for you to feel 
as if he would turn a deaf ear to your supplications, and 
to ask a supply to your wants, if you ask it at all, with 
the chilling apprehension that it will either be wholly 
refused, or granted with a frown. 

Now, let me assure you, my believing friends, that 
all such ideas are groundless and unworthy — that they 



SER. 13. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 



269 



proceed from most mistaken views of that Being to 
whom your prayers are addressed — and that whenever 
they intrude into your minds, they ought to be instantly 
banished, as not less dishonorable to God, than they 
are injurious to your own comfort. For, 

First, The very circumstance of God's commanding 
you to pray, implies in it an assurance that he will listen 
to your prayer. You cannot suppose, that, in enjoining 
upon you such an application to him, he is mocking and 
trifling with you, making an empty display of his au- 
thority, and sporting with your feelings, and your ex- 
pectations, and your necessities. The inconsistency 
which this supposition involves may be displayed by 
sinful and capricious man ; but it can have no place in 
the dealings of God with his creatures. There is an 
untainted honor, and there is a perfect consistency, in 
all his doings, which forbid the very thought. In that 
general attribute of goodness, and more especially in 
that particular exercise of it which is denominated 
mercy, and which is ascribed to him in his treatment of 
the destitute and the miserable, you might discover 
something like a ground which would warrant you to 
hope that your prayers will be heard and answered. 
But when you recollect, that, besides this, he actually 
holds out his mercy as that for whose communications 
you not only may, but must in duty, beseech him, the 
ground of hope assumes a broader aspect — a more sure 
and stable form. You cannot but be sensible, that, in 
the very language in which he bids you ask of him 
what you need, he pledges himself to give it without 
fail, and without reluctance. And this pledge is as ex- 
tensive as is the commandment, — reaching, therefore, 
throughout the whole range of your wants, and em- 
bracing in it every individual benefit that is necessary 
to your happiness. When he requires you to ask, he 
does not limit you to one or more of the good things 
which are indispensable to the improvement of your 
character, or to the fulness of your joy. His requisi- 
tion includes them all ; and, consequently, you may be 
*23 



270 



ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 13. 



satisfied — for it cannot be otherwise — that he is ready 
to bestow them all. 

2. But God does not leave you to any thing like 
mere inference on this point : and I have drawn your 
attention to the consideration now stated, chiefly for the 
purpose of showing you, that even from the sterner 
view in which God presents himself to his people,' — 
that of a lawgiver and a ruler, — they may draw en- 
couragement to pray in the spirit of liberty. He does 
not, I say, leave you to any thing like mere inference 
on this point. He condescends to make explicit de- 
clarations of his willingness to fulfil the desires and pe- 
titions of your hearts, and he expresses this willingness 
in the language of unequivocal promise — of distinct and 
positive assurance. Of this you meet with multiplied 
and satisfying proofs in his holy word. His word, 
indeed, may be justly said to be one continued proof of 
it. For while there are many passages in which prayer 
and promise are explicitly conjoined, every instance in 
which God intimates his readiness to give blessings to 
his people, though it be not expressly connected with 
prayer, is to be regarded as having the same meaning 
as if it were ; because it is the doctrine of scripture, 
and what no Christian can forget, that every blessing 
he receives, presupposes prayer as the appointed means 
of obtaining it. Well, therefore, may we assert, that 
the Bible is full of divine testimony to this statement 
that God's ear is ever open to your cry, and that his 
hand is ever ready to convey to you the blessings that 
you need and solicit. 

And, if I must quote any particular part of the sacred 
volume to illustrate the reality and the extent of God's 
willingness to answer prayer, I would remind you of 
these words, (Matt. xxi. 22.) "All things whatsoever 
ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." 
These are words addressed to you from heaven, by the 
mouth of Him, who is appointed to reveal to you the 
mercy and the will of God, and in whom you have 
placed your confidence as " the faithful and true wit- 



SER. 13. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 



271 



ness." They proclaim, in emphatic terms, the abso- 
lute certainty of your receiving from him, to whom you 
direct your prayer, the things that you ask. And they 
are of the most generous and comprehensive import, as 
to the number and variety of those blessings which you 
are entitled to supplicate, or may expect to obtain. 
Not that you can either ask, or look for, any thing that 
fancy, or caprice, or ignorance, or corrupt inclination 
may dictate or suggest. Such things are, in the very 
nature of the case, excluded. Whatever you ask must 
be that which God warrants or permits you to ask, as 
being directly conducive or really necessary to your 
attainment of that salvation and that felicity to which he 
teaches you to aspire. But there is no moral quality, 
no spiritual comfort, no possession of any kind, which 
comes within that description, that you may not ask ; 
nay, that you ought not to ask. And if you ask it, the 
petition finds a response in the mind of that compas- 
sionate Being who " giveth to all men liberally and up- 
braideth not," and will infallibly secure for you, sooner 
or later, in its suitable degree, and as to all its proper 
effect, the particular benefit, whatever it is, for which 
you have applied. God himself tells you this; and it 
argues an unbelieving heart, when you allow any sus- 
picion to arise within you that he will not fulfil what he 
has so graciously promised. His willingness is so 
strongly proclaimed, and so frequently repeated, and so 
closely associated with all that is true and holy in bis 
character, that you should feel as much assured of it, 
as if you already possessed and enjoyed the mercies 
which as yet you have only implored — -agreeably to the 
statement of the apostle John ; " This is the confidence 
that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according 
to his will, he heareth us ; and if we know that he hear 
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the pe- 
titions that we desired of him." 

There is another declaration made by our Lord in 
his valedictory discourse, which very strikingly illus- 
trates the same truth, (John xvi. 26, 27.) "At that 



272 ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 13* 



day, ye shall ask in my name ; and I say not unto you ? 
that I will pray the Father for you ; for the Father 
himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have 
believed that I came out from God." — "I say not unto 
you, T will pray the Father for you" — as if my inter- 
cession were necessary to extort from God, w T hat he is 
otherwise reluctant to give, or determined to withhold. 
He has, indeed, appointed that intercession as a con- 
stituent part of the scheme by which you are redeemed, 
and as it will not be forgotten by me, so neither can it 
be disregarded by you. But it is itself an institution of 
divine grace. It is an indication of that love of God 
which prompts him to give you all things pertaining to 
life and godliness. And being believers in me as hav- 
ing come from him, and having loved me as his Son 
and your Saviour, you are the objects of his peculiar 
affection. He loves you as his own by the most en- 
dearing tie. He has devised a plan by which he may 
righteously and richly shower down upon you the most 
invaluable blessings. And, when I plead your cause 
with him, and supplicate for you and your need, I ad- 
dress myself to my Father and your Father — one whose 
thoughts towards you are already thoughts of love, who 
regards you with overflowing kindness, and will delight 
in doing you good. You have no reason, therefore, to 
fear a cold reception, or a stern denial of your requests. 
Abundant reason have you, on the contrary, to pray 
without doubting, and without reserve, for whatsoever 
you stand in need of. " Ask, and ye shall receive, 
that your joy may be full." — It was thus that our Lord 
cheered and encouraged his more immediate disciples 
in the matter of prayer. And the same arguments I 
am called upon to urge, for the same purpose upon 
you who, like them, love and believe in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. You are the objects, as were they, of the 
Father's tender and affectionate regards ; and through 
all the clouds which have risen upon your view, and 
veiled the throne at which you bend, it is your duty 
and your privilege to penetrate ; to recognise the coun- 



SER. 13. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 273 



tenance of God beaming upon you with ineffable be- 
nignity, and to feel animated in spreading out your 
wants before him, by the interesting fact, that in him 
there is a well-spring of mercy, from which he will 
bountifully supply them all. 

3. Again, let me turn your attention to some of those 
representations of himself which God has been pleased 
to give to his suppliant people, and by which they are 
encouraged to draw near to him in prayer. For in- 
stance, he is represented as seated on a throne of 
grace. Now, you are never to contemplate God as 
divested of the attributes of holiness and justice. These 
are essential to him, and enter into every correct and 
comprehensive idea of his character. But then, were 
you to think of him, only as holy to hate the sin which 
he sees in you, and just to visit it with merited punish- 
ment, all approach to him would be felt to be presump- 
tion, and all supplication would appear to be vain. He 
therefore, reveals himself to you as occupying a throne 
of grace — thus assuring you of his favor, and inviting 
you to come to him without dread and without misgiv- 
ing. He sits upon " a throne, high and lifted up," 
with every thing at his command, and controlled by no 
created power in the communication of his gifts. He 
is holy and just, indeed ; but his holiness has been so 
honored, and his justice so satisfied, that they form no 
hinderance to the operation of his grace — which is free 
to expatiate upon all the objects of his regard, to the 
full extent of their necessities. This grace is so abun- 
dant in its riches, so liberal in its outgivings, so un- 
checked and unrestricted in the generosity of its de- 
signs, and so accessible to all who need its interposi- 
tion and its aid, that it is mentioned as characteristic of 
his throne ; as not merely something by which it is dis- 
tinguished in common with other properties of a differ- 
ent kind, but as having such a prominence and such an 
ascendancy that all other properties are subordinated 
by it and absorbed in it, as the quality, in short, that 
gives the name by which God's throne is spoken of, 



274 ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 13. 



and by which it is consecrated in the estimation of all 
his worshipping people. It is not the throne of maj- 
esty — it is not the throne of vengeance — it is not the 
throne of holiness and justice. It is the throne of 
grace — He who sits upon it is the God of grace — the 
invitation that issues from it is the invitation of grace — 
the blessings that it holds out are the blessings of grace. 
This is the throne, my believing friends, that you go to— 
that you bow before — that you address, when you ask 
what you need. And why does God speak of himself 
as occupying such a throne, if it be not to impress you 
with the persuasion, that so far from turning away your 
prayers from him, you cannot be more desirous to re- 
ceive, than he is willing to bestow ? Let your wants 
be what they may ; let them be so great that you can- 
not calculate them, so numerous that you cannot rec- 
kon them, so urgent that you are ready to sink under 
them — let them be what they may, — there is in that 
one word " grace," which designates the throne where 
you are to implore relief, what may satisfy you that 
there is not only a sufficiency wherewith to supply them 
all, but a decided and an unreserved readiness to minis- 
ter to them all. Even let it be supposed that your 
conscience has been writing the bitterest things against 
you — that your transgressions appear to you in the most 
aggravated colors — that you feel your heart hard and 
insensible as a rock — that a conviction of utter unwor- 
thiness has taken possession of your soul — and that you 
are afraid to look to God, or to ask from him the par- 
don, the sanctification, the comfort, of which you are as 
undeserving as you are needful — still I must exhort 
you to have recourse to his throne, and to take encour- 
agement from this, that it is "the throne of grace." 
The righteous Lord sits upon that throne ; but his face 
has no frown upon it— his voice has no terror in it. 
On whatever part of that throne you cast your eye, 
you see it inscribed with grace in all its variety of ap- 
plication to your circumstances. There is grace to 
blot out your trespasses, though they be " red like crim- 



SER. 13. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 



275 



son." There is grace to purify your hearts, though 
they be full of all uncleanness. There is grace to sub- 
due your enemies, though they " come upon you as a 
flood." There is grace to console you amidst all your 
sorrows, though they be great and, multiplied, and 
protracted. There is grace to guide you through life, 
to cheer you at death, and to carry you to heaven. 
And as surely as God sits upon that throne of grace, so 
surely will he listen to the prayers that you prefer at 
his footstool, and uphold the character which he himself 
has enstamped upon it, by freely tendering and impart- 
ing to you whatsoever you ask in sincerity and faith. 

While God represents himself as seated on a throne 
of grace, he also represents himself under the endear- 
ing character of a Father. He is a Father, indeed, 
whom you have offended by apostacy and disobedience ; 
but his anger has been turned away, reconciliation has 
been effected ; and he has sent forth the " Spirit of 
adoption" unto your hearts, whereby you can look up 
to him and say, " Abba, Father." And viewing him 
as standing in this paternal relation, you cannot but feel 
convinced that he will give you what you ask, as " his 
children by faith in Jesus Christ." For the leading 
and predominant idea conveyed in that relationship is, 
that he loves you and will provide for you, and will de- 
light to confer upon you whatever is requisite for your 
prosperity and comfort. An affectionate father has it 
continually, and as an inherent instinct in his heart, to 
supply all the wants of his children ; and when they 
implore his help, whether it be to support, or to pro- 
tect, or to guide, or to console, or to advance them, 
there is no indifference, no aversion, no reluctance in 
his breast, — but such a tenderness towards them, such 
a concern for their safety and well-being, such a desire 
to deliver them from evil and to do them good, that 
almost no sacrifice is deemed too costly by which this 
feeling may be practically manifested ; and even in- 
gratitude and undutifulness can scarcely restrain the 
beneficence in which it is disposed to go forth upon its 



276 



ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 13. 



beloved objects. And " like, as a father pitieth his 
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." 
Whatever regard an earthly father can be supposed to 
pay to his helpless and dependent children, may be 
confidently expected of our heavenly Father, towards 
those whom he has adopted into the family of the re- 
deemed, and whom he acknowledges as his ransomed 
offspring. His eye is upon them for good ; his ear is 
open to their cry ; his heart longs for opportunities of 
blessing them; and his readiness to impart to them 
what they need and ask, has this superiority over the 
workings of all mere human attachments, that while 
it will give, even to importunity, nothing that is hurtful 
or unsuitable, it prompts the petitions for what alone is 
safe or beneficial, and answers these by the wisest and 
most liberal communications. Our Saviour appeals to 
this illustration of God's willingness to answer the re- 
quests of his people, when he is urging upon the disci- 
ples the duty of prayer — as you find in the verses suc- 
ceeding our text. " Or what man is there of you" — 
let him even be more than ordinarily deficient in the 
affections of kindred — " what man is there of you whom 
if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone ? — or if he 
ask a fish will he give him a serpent ?" Is there any 
one of you so cruel and so hardened, as either to re- 
fuse what his children in duty or from necessity demand 
of him, or to give them, instead of it, what is useless 
or injurious ? On the contrary, will not his heart yearn 
towards them with the tenderest sympathy, and will not 
he be disposed to fulfil, as bountifully as he can, all the 
desires which they have expressed? "If ye, then, 
being evil" — with a nature that is imperfect and cor- 
rupt, and whose corruption and imperfection must nec- 
essarily cleave to all your best affections, and all your 
worthiest doings — if ye, being thus evil, are inclined 
and " know how to give good gifts unto your children, 
how much more shall your Father which is in heaven" 
— in whom no defect can be conceived to exist, and 
whose paternal love is too strong to be ever weakened, 



SER. 13. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 277 

and too rich to be ever exhausted — how much more 
shall such a Father " give good things to them that ask 
him !" Such a Father is your Father in Heaven, my 
believing brethren. And why should not you go to 
him and make your requests known to him, without any 
fear of having your suit rejected ; or rather with the 
confidence of obtaining from him what you need and 
supplicate. Has any thing occurred to discourage you 
from drawing near to God in prayer, and asking from 
him any of the blessings which are yet warrantable sub- 
jects of petition, and requisite for your welfare ? Be 
assured that the discouragement has no foundation in 
truth, and should have no influence on your minds. 
Remember that the God whom you thus tremble to ap- 
proach, and whose mercy you thus distrust, is your 
Father, and that this is a character which he has as- 
sumed, and in which he appears to you, for the very 
purpose of reviving, establishing, and cherishing your 
confidence in him. Do not dishonor him by imagining 
that he will lay it aside, or act inconsistently with it, in 
any part of the intercourse which he maintains with 
you, or of the treatment which he gives you, as those 
whom he has taught to look to him with filial regard. 
And, especially, beware of allowing such thoughts to 
enter your minds, when your circumstances dictate to 
you the exercise of that precious privilege, which holds 
such an important place amid the various privileges that 
belong to the sons and the daughters of a redeeming 
God — the privilege of asking from him whatever bless- 
ing is accommodated to your need. Rather go with 
the freedom, and the frankness, and the undoubting 
affiance of those whom he has called to be his chil- 
dren, and whom he therefore invites into his presence, 
and assures of an affectionate reception ; and spread 
out all the wants of your condition, and pour out all the 
desires of your hearts before him — satisfied that he can- 
not but be willing and ready to give you every token of 
his loving-kindness which your exigencies may require. 
Whenever any thing happens to keep you away from 
24 



278 ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 14. 



him, or to hinder your applications to him, as if " he 
had forgotten to be gracious, and would be favorable 
no more," call to mind what you were once enabled to 
say on the warrant and by the help of his own Spirit, 
" doubtless thou art our Father ;" and on that ground, 
ask what you will without fear, and without wavering. 
And let the encouragement which thus arises from 
remembering God's willingness to hear and answer 
your requests, be continually present to your mind, 
and be realized to your feelings, by your habitually 
prefacing your devotional applications to him with that 
significant and cheering address, " Our Father which 
art in Heaven." 

4. I have still to mention another proof of God's willing- 
ness to bestow the blessing that you need and ask. And 
this consists in his having given his own Son to save you 
by his sufferings and his death. It is impossible for us to 
estimate the value of this gift, or to conceive what love 
it implied on the part of God from whom it proceeded. 
But, whether we look to the declarations of scripture 
respecting it, or attend to its nature and consequences, 
so far as we are capable of comprehending them, its 
value must be accounted infinite, and we must consider 
it as bespeaking a love, that "passeth knowledge." 
Now, my believing friends, you have received that 
gift : you have been permitted to contemplate, to ad- 
mire, to experience, its excellence ; and you will be 
ready to. confess that, both as to the mercy in which it 
originated, and the extent and magnitude of its impor- 
tance to your souls, it is unspeakably and immeasurably 
great. But acknowledging and feeling this, why should 
you ever be doubtful of receiving any thing that you 
ask, in so far as it is essential or conducive to your real 
welfare ? You have already received the greater boon ; 
and can any reason be assigned for your not receiving, 
with equal certainty and liberality, all the lesser boons ? 
The bestowal of the former intimates a boundless com- 
passion in the Being who imparted it ; and when it is 
the very same Being to whom you apply for every 



SER. 13. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 



279 



thing e]se, have not you ample security in his boundless 
compassion for the attainment of the latter ? And as 
the one would not be effectual to its purposes, respect- 
ing your final salvation, which it was intended to secure, 
without the others being conveyed to you in all their 
appointed variety and abundance, dp you not see that 
the wisdom and the faithfulness, as well as the mercy, 
of God, are pledged, to grant them as constituent parts 
of his own plan of redemption ? These considerations 
are sufficient, and more than sufficient, to satisfy you 
that he must be perfectly willing to answer your peti- 
tions for every thing connected with your present wel- 
fare and your future happiness. The apostle Paul em- 
ploys this very argument, when he says, " He that spared 
not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all ; how 
shall he not with him, also, freely give us all things ?" 
These words represent it as utterly impossible that any 
of the subordinate blessings should be refused, or should 
not be conferred with the utmost readiness and gener- 
osity, since that has been conferred on which they all 
depend, and which exceeds them all in its intrinsic 
worth, and conferred by Him who, in the mission, the 
humiliation, and the sacrifice of his own dear Son, has 
afforded such an overpowering display of love, that it 
would be irrational in itself and injurious to his char- 
acter, to harbor even the slightest suspicion of his un- 
willingness to give to his people any one of all the mul- 
tiplied comforts and advantages which can enter into 
the lot, or can contribute to the well-being of a re- 
deemed soul. You may be assured, then, that God 
will not, and cannot despise the prayer, which ascends 
to him from your hearts ; which is offered up in faith, 
and which refers to benefits that you need and are au- 
thorized to ask. Pray for these ; and when at any 
time the apprehension steals in upon you, that they will 
not be given, call to mind the ineffable gift of his own 
Son, that you may be encouraged to ask ; and let your 
belief in its atoning efficacy, as well as in its inestimable 
preciousness, give energy and urgency to the requests 



280 



ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 13. 



that you. send up to Heaven. Be assured that that 
gift is the earnest of every other. He to whose un- 
paralleled bounty you are indebted for it, will give you 
grace here, and glory hereafter, and will withhold from 
you nothing that is good. "What is your petition and 
what is your request ?" Present it ; and He " will give" 
you, not only " to the half," but the whole of that sal- 
vation which he has provided for you in the gospel. 
And amidst all your misgivings, and anxieties, and ap- 
prehensions, encourage your hearts by remembering 
these w T ords, " Fear not ; for it is your Father's good 
pleasure to give you the kingdom." "Ask, and ye 
shall receive." 

And let the holy ordinance of communion, in which 
you are now to engage, inspire you with renewed con- 
fidence in the exercise of prayer. It is well fitted to 
do so. For it sets before you that very gift of God 
w T hich implies, or which brings along with it, all others. 
At the table of the Lord, you partake of the memorials 
of that sacrifice by which God makes over to you, who 
receive them in faith, all the blessings and privileges 
which you can possibly desire to make you perfectly 
and forever blessed. And in virtue of your union with 
Christ and your interest in his finished work, " all 
things are yours." Why then should you be fearful or 
backward to ask what is thus your own by covenant- 
right and by solemn engagement? Over the symbols 
of Christ's broken body and shed blood, take courage, 
and plead for whatever your circumstances require. 
Carry with you the remembrance of his death into all 
your scenes of devotion, and let it embolden and stim- 
ulate you to implore even the richest blessings that are 
laid up in the storehouse of divine bounty. And with 
hearts enlarged by the influence of those considerations 
which we have been pressing on your attention, and 
guided by the Spirit of all grace, " pray without ceas- 
ing," and "in every thing by prayer and supplication, 
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto 
God." Bear about with you the promise and the 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 281 

pledge for its fulfilment, and recal them to your recol- 
lection as often as you come before his throne, and 
especially when doubts and suspicions would fetter your 
devotion, or keep you at a distance from the Hearer of 
prayer. " Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and 
ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you : 
for every one that asketh, receiveth ; and he that seek- 
eth, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be 
opened." 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION.* 



Before we separate, my friends, let me address to 
you a few exhortations suited to the circumstances in 
which you now stand, as having been engaged in the 
solemn duty of commemorating the Saviour's dying 
love. I shall endeavor to comprise what I have to say 
within as small a compass as possible. At the same 
time, you will allow me to address myself, for a little, 
to the different classes into which, in point of conduct 
and condition, my hearers may be considered as, on 
this occasion, divided. 

1. In the first place, are there any whose con- 
sciences tell them that they have come to the Lord's 
table, without any fitness for it, and have partaken of 
the ordinance, without any interest it ? that they have 
been influenced by unworthy motives ; that they have 
been destitute of right principles ; that they have acted 
in an irreverent and unchristian manner ? To such of 
you, I must declare that you have been " guilty of the 



* Addressed to the congregation of St. George's Church, Edinburgh, 
after the celebration of the Lord's Supper, 7th November, 1830. 

*24 



282 EXHORTATION AFTER THE C0MMUNI05. 



body and blood of the Lord that you have deliber- 
ately profaned the memorials of the Saviour's death ; 
that you have been eating and drinking judgment to 
yourselves — provoking the displeasure, and incurring 
the condemnation of God. You cannot but be sensible, 
that the guilt which you have thus contracted is of a 
highly aggravated nature ; and that every consideration 
which renders the ordinance obligatory, and holy, and 
endearing, calls upon you to repent of this " your great 
wickedness." " Repent, therefore, and be converted, 
that your sin may be blotted out." Humble yourselves 
before Him whom you have insulted and provoked. 
Ask of him the forgiveness that you need. Have re- 
course to the "blood of sprinkling" on which you have 
trampled, but which alone can cleanse you from iniquity. 
And let this step be the last of that thoughtless and way- 
ward career which you have been hitherto running. 
Let the conviction of your guilt arrest you ; and, under 
its awful impression, resolve, in the strength of divine 
grace, that you will " go and sin no more ;" that you 
will never again touch the symbols of Christ's sacrifice 
with polluted hands ; that you will henceforth live in a 
state of habitual preparation, and thus be ready when- 
ever providence shall call you, to remember Christ, at 
his holy table. May God himself teach you to form 
this resolution, and may he enable you to keep it ! 

2. In the second place, are there any who, in their 
communion service, have experienced disappointment; 
who have sincerely desired, and studiously endeavored, 
to partake worthily of this ordinance, and yet have not 
enjoyed the comfort and satisfaction which they ex- 
pected ? Let me entreat such of you not to attribute 
this to the ordinance itself, as if it were not calculated 
to impart the consolation which you have sought with- 
out finding it; not to impute it to any deficiency of 
kindness in Him, after whose favor you have been as- 
piring, though without success ; not to consider it as a 
decisive proof that you have come wholly unprepared 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 283 

to eat the Lord's supper, and have therefore been 
guilty of abusing and profaning it. I would rather ex- 
hort you to reflect, whether you may not have been 
looking for more sensible communications of divine love 
than are promised ; whether you may not have been 
waiting for emotions of rapture, when you should have 
been contented with the humbler, though not less valu- 
able, attainments of moral influence and peaceful en- 
joyment ; whether, imperfect as your service may have 
been, you are not taking exaggerated views of that im- 
perfection, and mistaking involuntary error for deliber- 
ate impiety ; whether some worldly care, or some do- 
mestic affliction, or some groundless fear, may not have 
intruded itself, and distracted the tenor of your thoughts, 
or lowered the tone of your devotion. Reflect whether 
any of these circumstances may have been the cause of 
your disappointment. And while you suspect the 
weakness or the corruption of your own hearts, and are 
more and more humbled on that account, do not cease 
to love the ordinance of sacred communion ; do not de- 
sist from " following on to know the Lord do not des- 
pair of sooner or later arriving at " everlasting consola- 
tion and good hope through grace but let your sor- 
rowful experience on this occasion quicken you to 
greater diligence in the ways of religion; let it teach 
you to cherish less sanguine expectations of happiness 
in this mixed and sinful state of being; let it lead you 
to exercise a profounder submission to the will of your 
heavenly Father respecting your joys and your griefs, 
and to rest, not so much upon the frames and feelings 
of the heart, as upon the sincerity of your desires, the 
fervor of your prayers, the unwearied activity of your 
endeavors to walk as the disciples of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and as the expectants of that heavenly "joy, 
which is unspeakable and full of glory." 

3. In the third place, have any of you good reason 
to believe, that you were guided to the Lord's table by 
pure and upright motives? Were you anxious to ac- 



284 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 

quire the graces that were necessary to qualify you for 
the ordinance ? Did you present your offering in faith, 
and penitence, and love ? And have you felt it to be 
a good and blessed thing for you to " draw near unto 
God ?" And need I remind you of your obligation to 
be thankful to Him in whose mercy all this has orig- 
inated — who prepared the feast for you — who invited 
you to partake of it — who made you meet for enjoying 
fa — who spread over you " his banner of love" — -and 
enabled you to rejoice in the light of his countenance, 
and in the riches of his grace ? Let your hearts be 
warmed with sentiments of gratitude for his abundant 
goodness ; let your lips celebrate his praise ; let your 
conduct show the obligations which you feel to devote 
yourselves to his service. But while thus, in one sense, 
you have reason to be elevated by your communion 
service, you have reason also, in another view, to be 
lowly, and to "join trembling with your mirth." Sin- 
cere as you may have been, and suitable as were your 
principles and dispositions, you cannot but acknowledge 
that much sin and imperfection have attached to your 
solemn service. How cold have been your devotions 
— how listless your attention — how weak and wavering 
your faith — how inadequate your love — how dispropor- 
tionate your hatred of sin — how undetermined your 
resolutions and purposes of obedience ! I say, how far 
short, in these and other respects, have you come of that 
standard of duty to which you should have conformed I 
And should not this excite in you the sentiments of hu- 
mility ? Should it not lead you to the throne of grace, 
that you may ask and obtain forgiveness ? And should 
it not make you anxious on every future occasion to 
have the graces of the Spirit in livelier and more vigor- 
ous exercise ? Study, then, to be truly humble under 
a sense of your unworthiness. Neglect not to pray for 
the pardon which your consciences tell you that you 
need. And be stimulated to seek, with greater earn- 
estness than ever, that habitual preparation of the heart 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 285 

and of the life which shall fit you for a still more ac- 
ceptable, and a still more useful, and still more com- 
fortable, commemoration of the Saviour's death. It is 
thus, indeed, that you are to walk worthy of the pro- 
fession you have this day made, and of the privilege you 
have this day enjoyed. O, my friends, considering all 
that you have seen and done at the table of the Lord ? 
how holy should you be in all manner of conversation 
and of conduct ! You never can do too much to tes- 
tify your gratitude and your devotedness to him whom 
you have there remembered. Let it be the great bus- 
iness of your life to live to Christ. Live to him by re 
lying on his merits, and " glorying in his cross." Live 
to him by keeping his commandments, and imitating 
his example, and submitting to the discipline of his 
providence. Live to him by observing punctually and 
devoutly those ordinances, which he has instituted for 
the comfort of your souls, and for the improvement of 
your character. Live to him, by cultivating that 
brotherly affection to one another, and that unfeigned 
charity to all mankind, which he not only enjoins upon 
you as his disciples, but which he so conspicuously dis- 
played in his own life, and by whose sacred impulse he 
was constrained to die that you might live. Live to 
him by doing what you can, and by doing it with all 
your might, to promote the knowledge and the influence 
of his religion in the world — to carry abroad the glories 
of his reign over the face of the whole earth — and to 
bring every heart within your reach under the dominion 
of his grace and power. You know, my friends, that 
when I exhort you thus to live to Christ, I exhort you 
do what is both becoming and necessary in his pro- 
fessed followers. Do not reject my counsel, then, as 
if there were no propriety in its meaning, no justice in 
its application, no importance in its effects. Let no 
temptation prevail upon you to go aside from that line 
of conduct which you have so many motives to pursue 
with patience and perseverance. Act at all times wor« 



286 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 



thy of your high, your holy, your heavenly " vocation." 
And, amidst all the trials to which your faith and your 
virtue may be exposed in an evil world, think on the 
communion you have enjoyed, and on the love you 
have remembered, and on the vows you have taken, 
and on the hope you have professed, that, with the help 
of God, you may be encouraged to " hold your confi- 
dence stedfast unto the end," and be qualified at last 
to " enter into the joy of your Lord." 

4. In the fourth and last place, have you for the first 
time commemorated the death of Christ at a com- 
munion table ? I congratulate you on this public pro- 
fession of your faith in the Redeemer, in his gospel, 
and in his cross, and I would beseech you to persevere 
in it, and to justify its sincerity, in every part of your 
future conduct. You must not think that, having ap- 
peared at the Lord's table, you have now secured the 
character of disciples, and on the ground of what is 
past, may conclude that all is well with your spiritual 
interests. No, my young friends ; the character, of dis- 
ciples is to be ascertained, not by partaking of this or- 
dinance, solemn and important as the servicers, but by 
those principles, and by that conduct, which a right ob- 
servance of it requires in communicants, and which it 
has a direct and powerful tendency to produce and to 
improve. Your conscience will tell you whether you 
were indeed possessed of such principles and of such 
conduct, before you came to the Lord's table;, but 
charitably presuming that you were, it must now be 
your concern to live as those who have given themselves 
away to God, who believe in Christ with the heart, 
who look for salvation through the merits of a crucified 
Redeemer, and who, living in this world " as strangers 
and pilgrims," are the expectants of that better and 
purer and happier world which lies beyond it. I would 
not conceal from you the difficulties and dangers you 
will have to encounter in your Christian progress. Nor 
would I have you to conceive yourselves at liberty to 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 287 

make, in any case, a compromise with sin, as if it were 
possible for you to " serve two masters." You must 
expect to meet with much opposition ; and that oppo- 
sition it is necessary for you to resist and to overcome. 
But be not cast down : He that is for you is infinitely 
" greater than all that can be against you," He will 
" make his grace sufficient for you, and will perfect his 
strengthen your weakness." You are in the hands of 
a compassionate and almighty Saviour. Trust in Him, 
and he will make you " more than conquerors" over 
all your enemies. He will guide you in difficulty ; he 
will protect you in danger ; he will fortify you against 
temptation ; he will strengthen you for duty ; he will 
comfort you in all your tribulations ; he will lead you 
through the dark " valley of the shadow of death ;" and 
he will bring you in triumph to his heavenly kingdom. 
Encouraged and animated by such promises, be sted- 
fast in the faith and obedience of the gospel. Dili- 
gently employ the means of grace which you enjoy, by 
reading the Scriptures, attending the public worship of 
God, keeping holy the Sabbath-day, and praying to 
your Father in heaven. Avoid the company of the 
thoughtless, the impure, and the profane. And asso- 
ciate with those who fear the Lord and keep his com- 
mandments, and who can assist you, by their counsel 
and their example, in your journey to heaven. Walk 
under the habitual impression that the eye of God is 
upon you, to witness all your thoughts, and all your 
words, and all your ways. Frequently recal to your 
recollection the service of this day ; and when tempted 
to sin, remember your solemn vows, and keep your- 
selves from transgression. And let every other con- 
sideration be enforced by the prospect of death and 
judgment. Ere long you must die, and give an ac- 
count to God. Nay, you may be called soon and sud- 
denly to give in that account. And, this being the 
case, O how vigilant, and how active, should you be in 
the work that is given you, and that you have under- 



288 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 

taken to do ! Youth and health and prosperity, are no 
security against an unexpected summons to depart. 
" Thou fool, this night thy soul may be required of 
thee." " Be ye always ready, for ye know neither the 
day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh. And 
what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch." "Now 
unto Him that is able to keep your from falling, and to 
present you faultless before the presence of his glory 
with exceeding joy ; to the only wise God our Saviour, 
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now 
and ever. Amen," 



SERMON XIV. 



ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 

MATTHEW vii. 7. 

" Ask, and it shall be given youP 

In a former discourse on these words, we proposed to 
consider the encouragements we have to engage in the 
duty of prayer. And the first of these encouragements 
to which we directed your attention was, that the God 
to whom we pray is as willing and ready, as he is able, 
to bestow upon us the blessings that we need and ask. 
This proposition we proved and illustrated by observ- 
ing, first, that God's commanding us to pray, proceeds 
on the supposition that he will not withhold what we 
ask according to his injunction : Secondly, that he gives 
explicit declarations and assurances of that willingness 
which his commandment warranted us to infer ; and 
that these declarations and assurances are of such a 
nature as to remove every doubt or apprehension we 
might have entertained on the subject : Thirdly, that 
the various representations of himself, which he has 
given In the scriptures, afford the most powerful argu- 
ments in favor of the same conclusion — as for instance, 
when he represents himself as seated on a throne of 
25 



290 ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 14. 



grace, and in the character of our heavenly Father : 
And fourthly, that he has given his own Son for our 
salvation ; and this unspeakable gift is a pledge and 
earnest that every other gift which is necessary for us 
will be conferred; agreeably to the reasoning of the 
apostle, " He that spared not his own Son, but deliv- 
ered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely 
give us all things." 

II. We now proceed to consider, as another encour- 
agement to pray, that Jesus Christ is our High Priest, 
and Advocate with the Father. 

We should not, and if our minds are properly affect- 
ed, we cannot, approach God without convictions of 
guilt and unworthiness. It is unchangeably true that 
his nature and character are distinguished by infinite 
holiness. It is no less true, that we are polluted with 
that moral demerit by which, as an infinitely holy being, 
he must be offended. And while these impressions 
ought at all times to have a place in our minds, 
especially must they prevail when we go into his pres- 
ence, that we may solicit him for benefits. It must 
then occur to us not only that we do not deserve them, 
but that were we to be treated according to our desert, 
wrath, and not mercy, would be our portion. 

It is true, indeed, that if we are reconciled to God 
by faith in the righteousness of Christ, and can look up 
to him in the spirit of adoption as our heavenly Father, 
such apprehensions need not distress or overwhelm us. 
Still, however, our being justified does not prevent us 
from sinning. Every sin we commit may, on that ac- 
count, be considered as so much the more aggravated, 
and so much the more displeasing, in the sight of God. 
And occasionally there may be such a deep conscious- 
ness of guilt — our souls may be so burdened with a 
sense of iniquity — we may be so much cast down by 
the number and heinousness of those transgressions 
which set themselves in array against us — that we can- 
not look up to Him against whom we have done evil, 
and may feel as if it would be adding to our demerit 



SER. 14. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 



291 



were we to call upon his name, and supplicate any- 
blessing from his hand. 

Now, in these circumstances, our great, our only 
refuge is in the mediation of Jesus Christ, which is 
sufficient to remove every ground of fear, and to give 
us confidence in the petitions we prefer. His sacrifice 
is adequate to the expiation of all our guilt. It was 
appointed — it has been offered up— it has been fully 
accepted — for this very purpose. And God's perfec- 
tions are honored, and his glory promoted, by the for- 
giveness of all who are interested in its atoning virtue. 
Nor is it forgiveness alone that it has obtained for us. 
By removing the barrier which stood between God and 
us, it allows his loving-kindness to flow in upon us 
freely and fully; and by conciliating that loving-kind- 
ness, there is secured for us every blessing which the 
divine bounty can be deemed capable of bestowing 
upon those who are the objects of it — every blessing that 
is essential to the salvation and happiness of the sinful 
creatures on whose account the sacrifice of Christ was 
instituted. Whether we consider the value of Christ's 
sacrifice as directly meriting what we need, or whether 
we consider it as making way for the exercise of God's 
love, in communicating what we need, the effect is 
equally precious, certain, and extensive. The value of 
the sacrifice is infinite, and will merit every thing — the 
love of God to which it gives unrestrained operation, is 
also infinite, and will communicate every thing, that is 
implied in the largest and most liberal sense of the 
term, " redemption." But it is upon the worth and 
efficacy of this very sacrifice that we are called to de- 
pend, when we ask any thing of God. Depending 
upon it, we are assured that, for its sake, we shall re- 
ceive. And as it avails to the cancelling of all sin, and 
to the restoration of the favor which we had lost, and 
to the attainment of whatever is requisite for our salva- 
tion, we have no reason to be afraid that any one boon 
will be refused, which it is competent for us to ask, or 
necessary for us to possess. 



292 ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 14. 



This argument becomes still more powerful, when 
we recollect the nature and consequences of our union 
with Christ. Jf we have truly believed in him, we are 
members of his mystical body, and are therefore par- 
takers of all that belongs to him as our spiritual head. 
He has secured all the blessings that are necessary for 
his people. They are treasured up in him, as his pur- 
chased and ascertained property, for their welfare. And 
if we are his people by that faith which links us to him, 
these blessings must be ours, in title or in possession, as 
certainly as they are his. He has already won them 
by his vicarious, perfect, and accepted obedience. He 
won them, not for himself, but for those whom he came 
to redeem. And the moment that faith makes us one 
w T ith him, we acquire a covenant-right to them, which 
we are warranted to plead at the throne of grace ; and 
pleading this, our plea must be successful, not merely 
because God is good and merciful, but also because he 
is righteous and true. This doctrine is asserted by the 
apostle John when he says, " If we confess our sins, 
God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The faithfulness 
and the justice of God are here appealed to as guaran- 
teeing pardon and purification to those who return to 
him in his appointed way. And in like manner, and 
for the same reason, when we ask any thing of him as 
believers in Christ, we ask what Christ has already se- 
cured a title to, and what God therefore is pledged, by 
solemn engagement, to grant for Christ's sake. To be 
fearful, then, that we shall not receive, is not only to 
distrust the divine compassion, but moreover, to im- 
peach the divine rectitude. And thus those very attri- 
butes which, when contemplated in reference merely to 
our guiltiness, were apt to drive us away from God's 
presence, and to repress every petition for good, by 
extinguishing every hope of its being answered, become 
our most potent encouragement to pray, in consequence 
of the satisfaction which has been rendered to them by 
the finished work of Christ, and of the claim which has 



SER. 14. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 293 



been thereby established upon them, to fulfil whatever 
was promised to our substitute and surety. In this view, 
we may ask with freedom ; and we may ask with the un- 
wavering confidence that we shall seceive. 

There is another important circumstance connected 
with the one now mentioned, which deserves considera- 
tion. The oblation which Christ presented on behalf 
of his people, has secured for them a title to all the 
blessings of salvation ; but as our great High Priest, he 
has not only offered up that oblation, and procured its ac- 
ceptance — he has also taken it with him into " the holiest 
of all," and there he " ever liveth to make intercession 
for us." What can be more consolatory ; what can be 
more animating, than the persuasion, that we have "an 
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, 
who is the propitiation for our sins ?" Were we apply- 
ing to an earthly sovereign for any favor, we should 
naturally feel ourselves encouraged to make the appli- 
cation, in spite of any obstacles arising from the obscurity 
of our situation, or even the imperfections of our char- 
acter, by knowing that we had a friend in the royal 
presence to urge our suit, whose skill and influence 
would all be employed in our behalf, and exerted to en- 
sure success. And surely we must experience the 
power of this motive when it is furnished by the inter- 
cession of Christ, who presents our petitions at the 
Father's right hand, and enforces them with all the af- 
fection and with all the weight of a Redeemer, whose 
love and whose merit and whose wisdom are unbounded. 
He not only pleads with a Being who is already disposed 
to pity and to help us, but with a Being who has been 
propitiated by a sacrifice of his own appointment. He 
rests his plea upon the sacredness of a covenant, whose 
conditions he has amply fulfilled, as the representative 
of his people. He asks for blessings which are already 
his, by the right of purchase or of conquest. And, 
therefore, his prayer, must be prevalent, inasmuch as 
there are holiness and mercy and faithfulness in God. 
His verv admission into God's heavenly presence with 
*25 



194 ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SEE, 14, 



the blood of atonement, and as a reward for his medi- 
atorial labors, is a complete security for his success, be- 
cause it demonstrates that God was well-pleased with 
what he had done and suffered for sinners ; and, looking 
to every thing connected with his nature and his work, 
we cannot suppose that he will ever forfeit that divine 
acceptance which he has gained at such a costly price, 
and which has been made over to him in such a solemn 
manner. So that when we rely upon the efficacy of his 
intercession, we rely upon that which possesses infinite 
worth, and must necessarily be available to every thing 
which involves the well-being of those for whom it is 
made. And as we are assured that he makes interces- 
sion for us who believe in his name ; that he perfumes 
our supplications with the incense of his infinite merit ; 
that he presents and urges them as his own ; and that 
God is glorified by granting his requests — we may ban- 
ish all doubt and hesitation from our minds, and ask 
with the firm conviction that we shall not ask in vain. 
"Seeing that we have a great High Priest that is 
passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us 
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may 
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." 
The intercession of such a Saviour, in such circumstances 
is fitted to give us, and if we understand it aright, and 
have a believing regard to it, it will give us, a humble, 
holy, boldness in the exercise of prayer. It will relieve 
us from all the embarrassments which may be occa- 
sioned by a sense of our unworthiness. It will encour- 
age us to make known to God the desires of our hearts, 
not for any one thing, but for every thing, that we need, 
as sinful, dependent, immortal creatures. It was to 
save us that Christ gave himself an offering and a sacri- 
fice unto God. It is in prosecution of the same great 
end that he has gone with that sacrifice to appear in the 
presence of God for us. It is for nothing less that he 
continues there, discharging the office of an Advocate 
with the Father. And, therefore, we may petition for 
all the benefits that are comprehended in the term 



SER. 14. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 295 



" salvation," in the full persuasion that not one of them 
will be withheld. 

Let this then, my believing friends, be your encour- 
agement in prayer, that Christ is your propitiation and 
your intercessor. Whatever may occur to cast down 
and disquiet your soul, still trust in God, who hears 
Christ always, and will not, cannot, reject his suit, or 
deny him what he asks. And " whatsoever ye shall 
ask the Father in his name, he will give it you for 
with him you are identified, as it were, in the scheme 
of God's redeeming mercy. I cannot say to you, that 
hitherto ye have asked nothing in Christ's name. For 
all along, it must be presumed, that you have been ask- 
ing in that name, and in no other. But if you have 
doubted or desponded when supplicating at God's throne, 
we cannot but fear that you have forgotten, or have 
not sufficiently realized and felt, the efficacy of Christ's 
name. In the mere name, indeed, in the word itself, 
there is no such efficacy, no such virtue, no such charm, 
that the soundings of it, or the thinking on it, should 
bring you any blessing. Asking in his name, means the 
exercise of a conscious reliance upon his mediation. 
When you pray, let that reliance be in full and lively 
operation. Let this be the case in every season of 
devotion. More especially let it be present with you 
when convictions of guilt and sinfulness rise up to be- 
cloud your views of heaven, and to make you fearful in 
the hour of prayer. In such exigencies, look steadfastly 
to Christ, meditate deeply on him, confide unhesitatingly 
in him, as that Saviour who presented an acceptable of- 
fering, and who, on the ground of that offering, makes 
continual and prevalent intercession in your behalf. 
And take courage to ask to the full extent of your ne- 
cessities. "Ask in faith, nothing wavering." "Ask, 
and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." 

III. In the third place, we may mention as another 
encouragement to pray, that the Holy Spirit is promised 
to assist us in this sacred duty. 



296 ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 14» 



There is no duty whatever, which of ourselves we 
are able to discharge aright. And this melancholy fact* 
holds true with regard to prayer, fully as much as it 
does with regard to any other. Prayer is an exercise 
so purely spiritual ; it requires such an effort of the at- 
tention, such a concentration of the affections, such a 
freedom from external interference, such a minute ac- 
quaintance with our own hearts and characters and cir- 
cumstances, and such a constant and steady contempla- 
tion of the peculiar objects of faith, — that at all times 
we engage in it with painful imperfection, and often fail 
in its most essential and interesting properties. And a 
sense of this naturally tends to increase the evil, and 
even to make us go seldomer, and with less willing- 
ness, and with less comfort and advantage, to the throne 
of grace. 

Now, to counteract such feelings, and to prevent such 
mischief, let it be remembered with gratitude and delight, 
that we have the promise of divine aid, suited to the 
nature and the necessities of the case. We have the 
promise of the Holy Spirit for this purpose. The Holy 
Spirit, indeed, is promised to direct and to aid us in the 
performance of all our Christian duties ; and without 
his blessed and powerful influences, we could not ad- 
vance one step in the path of piety and righteousness ; 
we could neither think a good thought, nor speak a good 
word, nor do a good work. But he is especially pro- 
mised as the " Spirit of grace and of supplications." 
He is represented as sustaining this character, and in 
this character as imparted to believers, and dwelling in 
them. Having, therefore, the promise of a divine 
agency to assist them in their devotions, they may trust 
they will be prevented from " asking amiss," and conse- 
quently asking unsuccessfully. 

I need not detail to you the various particulars as to 
which this assistance is vouchsafed. Whether it be the 
difficulty of distinctly realizing Him to whom you ad- 
dress yourselves in prayer — or whether it be an inade- 
quate knowledge of the blessings you need, or an inade- 



SER. 14. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRATER. 



297 



quate impression of their value — whether it be a weak- 
ness in your faith, or a langor in your affections — 
whether it be a distraction of the mind by worldly cares, 
and unholy associations — whatever it be which might 
enfeeble, or desecrate, or nullify your applications to God 
for the blessings you need, the remedy is to be found 
in the influences of his Spirit, who is sent for this very 
purpose, that he may teach and enable you to pray — 
that he may incline your hearts to this exercise — that 
he may put you into a proper frame of mind for it — 
that he may sanctify you for engaging in it in a suitable 
manner — that he may guard you against the intrusion of 
those vain or unhallowed imaginations by which it would 
be polluted — that he may give you a lively conviction of 
the importance and urgency of your wants — that he may 
suggest to you such petitions as correspond with all the 
varieties of your condition — that he may keep your view 
fixed singly and intensely on the Being to whose benig- 
nity you appeal — and that he may direct all your as- 
pirations through that medium by which alone the sin- 
ful creature can hold intercourse with the Holy Creator 
— the merit and intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
All these benefits — and every thing else that is requi- 
site for asking so as to receive, are involved in the gift 
of the Holy Spirit. And he who is privileged to pray 
" with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit," need 
not be dejected by the consideration of that ignorance, 
and weakness, and much imperfection with which he is 
naturally beset. The Spirit will guide and strengthen 
and sanctify him in this service as in every other ; and, 
yielding to his gracious influences, he will find it true 
in respect to prayer, that " where the Spirit of the 
Lord is, there is liberty." 

There is a very striking and significant statement on 
this part of our subject, in Paul's Epistle to the Romans, 
(viii. 26.) " Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our in- 
firmities ; for we know not what we should pray for as 
we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for 
us, with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he 



298 ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 14. 



that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of 
the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints 
according to the will of God." The Spirit is our great 
auxiliary in the divine life. He helps us amidst all the 
infirmities that cleave to our nature, or that arise from 
our situation : and as our infirmities attach to the duty 
of prayer, so he helps us in the performance of that 
duty. We are so deficient when left to our own re- 
sources, that we know not what we should pray for, and 
we know not how to pray for it as we ought. But here 
the Spirit comes to our aid ; and so adequate and so 
efficient is the aid which he imparts — so much does he 
inspire us with devotional sentiment, and so much does 
he dictate, as it were, the very petitions which we are 
to offer up, and so much does he take the management 
of our understandings and our hearts at the throne of 
grace, and so much are the outpourings of our souls 
there to be traced and ascribed to his operation, that 
he is represented as executing a prerogative similar to 
that which belongs to Christ, and as " making interces- 
sion for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" — 
exciting us to long, with inexpressible ardor, after the 
blessings of that redemption, to which he seals us, and 
rendering our prayers for these, fervent, appropriate, 
and effectual, acceptable to that God who knows what 
are the thoughts and desires of his saints, and who re- 
gards them as inwrought by his own Spirit, whose sug- 
gestions they are, and who will answer them in mercy 
as being all in conformity to the purpose which he has 
formed concerning the deliverance and the happiness 
of his people. 

What rich encouragement does this afford you, my 
Christian brethren, in the exercise of prayer ! Not 
only does God to whom you pray invite you into his 
presence, and assure you of his willingness to " grant 
you according to your own heart, and to fulfil all your 
counsel;" but you are taught to look to Christ, his 
anointed Son, as having purchased for you the blessings 
that you need and ask, and as, on that ground, inter- 



SER. 14. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 299 



ceding, powerfully and prevalently, that you may re- 
ceive them in full and suitable measure. And then 
the Holy Spirit is provided and sent forth, that the 
divine work may be perfected — that you may be in- 
structed in the proper enjoyment of this distinguished 
privilege — in the right performance of this sacred duty 
— in the efficient use of this important means of grace — 
and that you may be enabled so to order your desires, 
and so to present your supplications, as that nothing 
shall be wanting to secure your attainment of all that is 
needful for you in time and eternity. Let all your ap- 
prehensions arising from conscious infirmity, be dissi- 
pated by this consideration. Let your souls be en- 
larged and stimulated by it, that you may always pray, 
and not faint. And let it come home to you with 
double power, when you remember that the Holy Spirit 
is promised to them that ask him — that his influences 
as "the spirit of supplications" will be given in answer to 
your humble and believing requests — and that the more 
you depend upon his aid, and the more importunate and 
persevering you are in imploring it, the more liberal 
will be its supply, the greater freedom will you have in 
seeking God's face and favor; and the more plentifully 
will he pour down upon you the bounties of his grace, 
and the joys of his salvation. 

IV. Finally, the happy experience of believers in all 
ages, furnishes another encouragement to prayer. 

When you are exhorted to pray, it is no new duty 
which you are called to perform. It is not a duty 
whose importance and usefulness have yet to be brought 
to the test of experiment. It is not an exercise whose 
tendency to comfort and improve those who engage in 
it, is, in any measure speculative or not fully proved. 
The commandment of God to pray — the privilege of 
his people to pray — are as ancient as the church itself. 
The commandment has been obeyed, the privilege has 
been possessed, ever since there was a converted sin- 
ner upon the earth. And the uniform testimony has 
been, that in the " keeping of that commandment there 



300 ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 14. 



is a great reward," and that from the use of that priv- 
ilege, all comfort and edification are derived. Nay, 
my friends, if it has been given " to you in the behalf 
of Christ Jesus to believe in his name," you also must 
know what it is to pray, and I may appeal to your own 
experience, if you have not found it to be a good and a 
profitable thing to draw near unto God. And if that 
be the case — if you have found God when you sought 
him — if blessings have descended upon you when you 
supplicated them — if frequenting the throne of grace 
you can say that hitherto the Lord hath helped you, 
may not you expect that, continuing to frequent that 
throne, goodness and mercy will continue to follow you 
till you take up your abode in the house of the Lord 
above ? May you not expect this, even though you 
cannot distinctly trace a connexion between the partic- 
ular tokens of kindness you have received and the pe- 
titions by which they were preceded. From the 
scheme of Christianity — from the promises of the gos- 
pel — from what has actually happened in the history of 
your Christian life, you must know and feel that the 
instrumentality of prayer has been so blessed as to pro- 
cure for you the spiritual good that you enjoy : and 
this is enough to teach you that, by persevering in the 
use of the same instrumentality, similar good, in a 
greater or in a less degree, will come into your lot from 
the hand of Him who has heretofore heard your sup- 
plications and answered them in mercy. And if you 
be placed in more difficult, more dangerous, more 
needful, more trying circumstances than you were ever 
placed in before, and need a proportional encourage- 
ment, you may surely find it in the case of multitudes, 
who have come through far greater tribulations and 
been delivered from far heavier burdens, than any that 
you are doomed to suffer or to bear ; who clung the 
closer to the footstool and the throne of mercy, the 
more that they were tempted and afflicted ; who never 
ceased to " cry to Him who was able to save them ;" 
who were thus rescued out of all their fears and troubles, 



SER. 14. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. 301 

and have now exchanged the wailings of distress, and 
the entreaty for deliverance, for the unceasing accents 
of gratitude and victory and joy. On looking around 
you among your brethren in Christ, it is not unlikely 
that you may discover some who can tell you, and tell 
you truly, that they have been visited with " fears within 
and fightings without" — that they have been made to 
" walk in darkness and had no light" — that many and 
grievous and insupportable were the evils which they 
had to endure — but that they did not despair — that they 
cried mightily to the Lord their God — that he heard 
them, and shed the light of life and consolation upon 
their souls, and guided their feet into the way of peace, 
and made them to sing of the mercy which they had 
implored, — and that they are now living and blessed 
monuments of the compassion of the God of prayer, 
and of the wisdom and the advantage of seeking Him 
in that character amidst every scene of adversity and 
alarm. And, if you know not within the limits of your 
Christian brotherhood, any such example as that which 
I have now supposed, you may look into the Bible and 
there you will find it, set before you in the most inter- 
esting light, and affording the strongest possible encour- 
agement to engage and persevere in prayer. Through- 
out the whole of the Book of Psalms there is a prac- 
tical demonstration of this : and especially in the 116th, 
at the beginning, where the pious King of Israel testi- 
fies to the efficacy of prayer, in terms the most affect- 
ing and pathetic. " T love the Lord because he, hath 
heard my voice and my supplications. Because he 
hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon 
him as long as T live. The sorrows of death com- 
passed me ; and the fears of hell got hold upon me : I 
found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the 
name of the Lord ; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver 
my soul. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous : yea 
our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple. 
I was brought low and he helped me. Return unto 
thy rest, O my soul ; for the Lord hath dealt bounti- 
26 



302 ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER. SER. 14. 



fully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul 
from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from 
falling." 

Be persuaded, then, to follow in the footsteps, of 
u the saints and the excellent of the earth" who have 
gone before you. Imitate their example : be encour- 
aged by their experience : let the success which ac- 
companied their prayers and supplications determine 
you to pray and to supplicate without ceasing, what- 
ever you need from Him whose " ear is never heavy 
that it cannot hear, and whose hand is never shortened 
that it cannot save." " Ask, and it shall be given you ; 
seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened 
unto you ; for every one that asketh, receiveth, and he 
that seeketh, flndeth ; and to him that knocketh, it shall 
be opened." 



SERMON XV. 



PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 

JAMES v. 13. 

" Is any among you afflicted ? Let him pray." 

I need not tell you, my friends, that you are all liable 
to affliction. You can scarcely have lived so long in the 
world as the youngest of you have done, without suffer- 
ing it in some of its various forms. At this very mo- 
ment, perhaps, I speak to not a few who are under its 
actual pressure. At any rate, there are many in the 
circle of your acquaintance, or in the range of your 
neighborhood, whom you know to be visited with dis- 
tress in their own persons, or in those of their families 
and their friends, in their minds, or in their bodies, or 
in their outward condition. In all this you see an am- 
ple demonstration of the saying that " man is born to 
trouble as the sparks fly upward." And from it you 
should learn that, though your " cup may now be run- 
ning over," and your " mountain standing strong," it 
will not be so always — that the days of adversity will 
assuredly come, and that these days may be longer and 
darker, and more stormy, than you are at present will- 
ing to anticipate. 



304 



PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 



SER. 15. 



Now, in such circumstances, what does it become 
you to do ? The apostle tells you in the words of my 
text; " Is any among you afflicted ? Let him pray." 
Here we are taught that devotion is the true and un- 
failing refuge of the mourner — that our comfort in the 
midst of sorrow is to be found in the doctrines and the 
exercises of religion — that whatever be the nature of 
our distresses, we should have recourse to God, as the 
Father of mercies, the fountain of consolation, the rock 
of our deliverance and our safety. 

No doubt, in the time of trouble, prescriptions very 
different from these will be freely tendered to you, and 
tendered with some appearance of wisdom, and with 
liberal professions of friendship. 

The philosopher will tell you that afflictions are the 
lot of humanity — that they are absolutely inevitable- — 
that your grief on account of them is useless and una- 
vailing — and that therefore you should try to become 
indifferent to them, and submit quietly to your fate ? 
whatever it may be : a lesson which it is impossible to 
reduce to practice while the constitution of our nature 
continues what it is, and which, were it practicable^ 
would only serve, by deadening our sensibilities, to de- 
prive us of all that is amiable, and to exhibit a case in 
which the remedy is incalculably worse than the dis- 
ease. The man who could remain in stoical and 
deathlike apathy, amidst all the ills and calamities of 
life, is far less an object of envy, than the man who 
weeps at every trifling injury, and allows himself to be 
overwhelmed by disappointment and pain. The latter 
is only weak ; and with his weakness, may have much 
that is interesting ; but the former, in the sternness of 
that virtue which he has assumed, has lost every gra- 
cious attribute of the heart, and made himself as inca- 
pable of relishing the joys, as he has made himself proof 
against the sorrows, with which his lot is chequered. 

The mere moralist will talk to you of the utility of 
those trials to which you are subjected ; of the duty, 
the propriety, and the dignity of patient endurance ; of 



SER. 15. PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 



305 



the examples of suffering and of magnanimity with 
which the history of mankind abounds ; of the neces- 
sity that exists for summoning up the energies of your 
minds to meet the exigencies of your case ; and of the 
advantage you will derive, and the reputation you will 
acquire, by rising superior to all that is harassing in your 
experience and gloomy in your prospects. And, doubt- 
less, these considerations are not altogether inapplicable 
or useless. But yet, of themselves, they are far from 
being sufficient for the purpose for which they are pro- 
fessedly set before you. They rather point out what 
should prevent you from murmuring, than what will 
inspire you with comfort and resignation ; they show 
you the temper and character to which you should as- 
pire, rather than furnish you with the means and the 
motives that may secure their attainment: they do not 
carry you either to the source of affliction or to the 
source of consolation ; they provide you only with what 
may heal your wounds slightly and superficially, not 
with what will cure them radically and effectually : 
they suggest to you some adventitious views which may 
help to mitigate your disquietudes, instead of urging 
upon you the principle whose power is adequate to 
subdue these disquietudes, if it do not remove their 
cause : in short, they are marked by this capital defect, 
they while they deal but very partially both with our 
affections and our destiny, they make no provision for 
our inherent weakness, and fail to direct us to that 
divine aid, without which all our knowledge, and all our 
meditations, and all our efforts, are fruitless and in- 
efficient. 

Besides these, there is a class of comforters from 
whom better counsel might be expected, but from whom 
no better counsel, or rather counsel not so good, is ob- 
tained. The persons to whom I refer are nominally 
Christians. They profess to rest their own hopes of 
salvation on the gospel, and to think it essential to the 
salvation of others. And they would be indignant were 
we to accuse them of any disrespect for the Scriptures, 
*26 



306 



PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. SER. 15. 



or for the scheme of mercy which the Scriptures un- 
fold. But yet, the practical system upon which they 
act is as worldly as if they had no acquaintance with 
Christianity or no belief in it. And if you follow their 
direction when you are afflicted, you will find that sa- 
cred views and sacred employments are almost wholly 
interdicted, and that if you are to have any thing to do 
with these, the impression which they are to be permit- 
ted to make, and the influence which they are to be 
permitted to maintain, must be as feeble and as slight 
as possible. Accordingly, it is no uncommon thing for 
them to tell you, that, in such circumstances, you should 
beware of dwelling much, or of dwelling seriously, on 
what has befallen you ; that religious books are a great 
deal too dispiriting and dismal for your perusal ; that it 
is only to increase your malady when you seek for the 
conversation of a clergyman, or of a pious friend ; and 
that nothing can be worse for you than to seclude your- 
selves from gay company, and to spend any portion of 
your time in retirement or in solitude. One would be 
apt to suppose that they would recommend the perusal 
of your Bible; but no, they would much rather put 
into your hands the news or the novel of the day. 
Surely they might be expected to suggest attendance 
on public ordinances ; and yet, though they may not 
be so bold as to condemn it, they will be much more 
urgent that you should go to the theatre than to the 
church. And instead of the offices of private and do- 
mestic piety, they do not hesitate to substitute such 
miserable expedients as the card-table and the midnight 
assembly. In short, their only object being to dissi- 
pate your melancholy, and to restore your spirits to 
their wonted tone, and to bring you back to the enjoy- 
ment of life, as they call it, they would have you to give 
yourselves up without reserve to all the entertainments 
within your reach ; to frequent the haunts of levity and 
mirth ; to associate with those whose pursuits, and 
whose very countenances, are an antidote to sadness ; 
to force the laugh which refuses to come spontaneously ; 



SER. 15. PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 



307 



and, in fine, to engage in all that stands most directly 
opposed tq solemnity of feeling and seriousness of oc- 
cupation. 

I know not, my friends, if, on any supposition, such 
counsels are to be considered as wise or appropriate. 
Were I a mere worldling, a very infidel, — yet had I a 
particle of the best susceptibilities of my nature left 
within me, and especially had my kind affections been 
in the least degree cultivated and refined, could I toler- 
ate the advice which bade me forget the dear friend, 
the beloved parent, or the darling child whom I had 
just consigned to the grave, by plunging into the vani- 
ties and pleasures of fashionable life? And if there be 
truth in religion ; if the Bible be a revelation from God ; 
if the doctrines which it teaches, and the prospects 
which it sets before us, be realities of infinite and eter- 
nal moment, as many of those to whom we refer pro- 
fess to believe, and would deem it foul scorn to be sus- 
pected of doubting or denying, — then surely, and be- 
yond all controversy, it is at once guilt and madness 
that would either give or take the admonition to bury 
all our sorrows in the thoughtlessness, the dissipation, 
and the frivolous amusements of a vain and ungodly 
world. 

But while we protest and warn you against such un- 
sound monitors — such miserable comforters as those of 
whom we have been speaking, we would supply their 
place with the apostle, who, guided by the Spirit of 
wisdom, says, " Is any among you afflicted ? let him 
pray." And when the apostle holds this language, he 
is not to be understood as teaching that the mere act 
of prayer is sufficient to answer the purpose which he 
has in view ; or that this purpose can be answered by 
the most conscientious and persevering discharge of 
that important duty. There are various methods by 
which your afflictions may be removed or alleviated — 
various methods by which you may be rescued from 
them, or by which you may be supported under them, 
and by which you may be enabled to feel and to act 



308 



PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. SER. 15. 



worthily with respect to them. These are either dic- 
tated by the word of God or suggested by the arrange- 
ments of his providence ; and it is right and necessary 
that they should be brought into operation, and em- 
ployed with as much skill and energy as we can com- 
mand. Prayer, however, is peculiarly suitable, and de- 
serving of particular notice. It is not only in itself, and, 
by its own independent fitness, becoming, and useful, 
and obligatory in the season of distress, but it is requisite 
as an accompaniment to all the other exercises in which 
we then engage, and to all the other means which we 
then bring into action — requisite to give them their pro- 
per tone and character, and to procure that blessing 
from above, by which alone they can be made effectual. 
Prayer, indeed, is a duty in which we should be hab- 
itually occupied, according to the express command- 
ment of God, and agreeably to the place which he has 
assigned it among the duties of personal Christianity. 
But, while we should be habitually occupied in it, there 
are times and circumstances in which it should be re- 
sorted to with more than ordinary zeal. And it is a 
matter of reason, as well as of devout feeling, that, 
when we are afflicted, we stand more in need of it, and 
should therefore be given to it with more frequency and 
with more fervor. We are required by the voice of 
divine authority, to " call upon the Lord in the day of 
trouble, that he may deliver us, that we may glorify 
him." His people have, in every age, recognised it 
to be no less a privilege than a duty to obey this precept ; 
and, in crying to him " from the depths," they have of- 
ten found comfort and salvation. Our Saviour himself 
has given us an example of it, for, in his hour of trial 
and suffering, he " offered up prayers 7 and supplications 
to Him who was able to save him from death ;" and, 
" being in agony, he prayed the more earnestly," — and 
he was "heard in that he feared." And, indeed, my 
friends, what fitter, what kinder, exhortation can we give 
you, when you are afflicted, than that you should bow 
down at the throne of grace, and pour out before Him 



SER. 15. PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 



309 



who sitteth upon it, the sorrows, and the desires, and 
the petitions of your hearts ; that you should, in this 
manner, and on such occasions, hold communion with 
your heavenly Father, and apply for those communica- 
tions which correspond with the nature of your situation 
and the extent of your necessities; that your views 
should be directed, and your prayers addressed, to Him 
from whom your afflictions proceed, or under whom 
they are permitted to befal you, who both can and will 
remove them, according to your entreaty, if he see it to 
be for your real good — who, at all events, can cheer and 
uphold you while you groan beneath their burden — who 
can overrule and bless them for promoting your spiritual 
improvement and your eternal well-being — and who 
can make them all issue in your advancement to that 
" crown of righteousness and glory which fadeth not 
away." 

It is of importance, however, that you be not only 
convinced of the propriety and the benefit of praying to 
God when you are afflicted, but that you also attend to 
the leading characteristics of the prayer which you then 
prefer, that you may be at once persuaded to engage in 
the exercise, and to engage in it acceptably and success- 
fully. With this view, 

1. I remark in the first place, that it may be the 
prayer of nature. "The Hearer of prayer" is the God 
of nature. He has implanted in you certain instinctive 
tendencies which it is lawful to gratify, when this is not 
done in opposition to the express intimations of his will, 
or by means of which he disapproves. And one of the 
most powerful of these instincts, is the tendency to es- 
cape from danger and from misery of every kind. 
From every calamity then, which befals, or which 
threatens you, you are permitted, and you are bound, 
to seek deliverance. This is what our Saviour did. 
He suffered no farther and no longer than was consist- 
ent with the work which he had undertaken to perform. 
And, even when he could not fail to know that all 
which he was doomed to endure was necessary for our 



310 



PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. SER. 15. 



redemption, yet he yielded to the impulse of natural 
feeling, and in the exceeding sorrowfulness of his soul, 
offered up this memorable petition, " Father, save me 
from this hour — if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
me." You have the authority of his example, there- 
fore, for asking the removal of your afflictions. It be- 
comes you to use every proper means of averting the 
evils which menace you, and of terminating the evils 
which have already come upon you. But forget not 
also to pray to this effect. Pray that the God of mer- 
cy and of power may be pleased to take away all that 
pains, and all that harasses you. Pray that he may 
direct you to those measures which are best calculated 
to accomplish your relief, and that he would bless them 
for that end. And, pray with all the earnestness and 
ardor which may be suggested by the poignancy, and 
the extent, and the duration of your sufferings. 

2. But, secondly, your prayer must be the prayer 
of resignation. Our Saviour had no sooner prayed 
" If it be possible let this cup pass from me," than he 
added, " Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt." 
Resignation was the habit of his mind : and in the hour 
of his deepest anguish, this virtue had its perfect work. 
He knew that all things were well ordered. He en- 
tertained not a wish, nor a thought, at variance with the 
divine appointments. And at the very moment that he 
was imploring exemption from suffering, with a fervor 
which demonstrates how unspeakably great that suffer- 
ing was, at that moment his supplication was qualified 
by the feeling and expression of unreserved acquies- 
cence in the will of God. Three several times did he 
lift up this voice of supplication, but as often did he re- 
sign himself to the good pleasure of his heavenly Father. 
" If it be possible let this cup pass from me : yet not 
my will but thine be done." Such is the spirit, and 
such is the conduct, which should distinguish us when we 
pray to God in the midst of our afflictions. We should 
recollect that these afflictions are the discipline of his 
providence ; that they are sent to us, or continued with 



SER. 15. PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 311 



us, in the exercise not merely of sovereign power, but 
of unerring wisdom, of tender mercy, of unchangeable 
faithfulness ; that they are more or less connected with 
our highest interests in time and in eternity ; and that 
however difficult we may find it to bear them, yet if we 
bear them with patience and submission, they will prove 
in the end to be blessings far richer and more important 
than the health, the uninterrupted prosperity, the unmin- 
gled enjoyment on which we are accustomed to set so 
much value. Recollecting these things, resignation,amidst 
our most painful privations, and our keenest sorrows, must 
be deemed equally rational and dutiful. And not one wish 
should be conceived by us, nor one petition be presented 
by us, for deliverance from the chastening rod, which is 
not modified by the sentiment, and accompanied by the 
language that imparted such a moral charm to our Lord's 
prayer of agony in the garden of Gethsemane. Our 
afflictions may be numerous, and poignant, and pro- 
tracted : we may be racked with pain, or we may be 
pining away under the power of a lingering disease : we 
may be subjected to all the hardships, and all the scorn 
of unlooked for poverty : we may be lamenting the 
misrepresentation, and reproach, and calumny by which 
our good name has been obscured or blasted : we may 
be bending in painful suspense over the sick-bed of 
one whose life is dear to us as our own, and trembling 
lest every coming moment should tear from us the ob- 
ject of our fondest affection — and in the midst of these 
trying scenes and heart-rending visitations, we are per- 
mitted to send our messenger of prayer to heaven, to 
beseech Almighty God to visit us with salvation, and 
to beseech him with an intensity of desire, and an en- 
x ergy of language proportioned to the severity of what 
we feel and fear. But still our prayers are defective, 
and unbecoming, and unacceptable, unless they convey 
the homage of unaffected and unqualified submission. 
We may obtain what we ask, but it may prove in our 
sad experience to be a curse instead of a blessing. We 
may, as to the subject of our entreaties, receive " beauty 



312 PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. SER. 15. 

for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment 
of praise for the spirit of heaviness but at the same 
time we may be putting away from us the gift of eternal 
life, and continuing in those fatal corruptions from 
which the fire of affliction was intended to purify and 
save us. And thus the ordinance of prayer, which was 
appointed to help us to " work out our salvation," may 
be perverted into the instrument of impatience, ungod- 
liness, and ruin. Let us, therefore, be ready, amidst 
all our distresses, to commit our lot to the undisputed 
management of God. Let no weight of trial tempt us 
to withdraw from him that confidence which we ought 
to repose in the dealings of infinite perfection. In our 
saddest experience, let us cast all our cares and all our 
sorrows upon Him " who careth for us," and is " afflict- 
ed in all our afflictions resting assured that there is 
both wisdom and mercy in his most desolating dispen- 
sations, though a dejected and distrustful heart would 
lead us to suspect that his wisdom had failed in its ex- 
ercise, or that his " mercy was clean gone forever." 
And while we address to him the prayer, which he 
himself, as the Author of our natural frame, has taught 
us to utter, and to which the example of his own Son 
has given a high and sacred sanction, that " if it be pos- 
sible, each successive cup of affliction may pass from 
us," let us never forget, and never fail, to annex the 
tribute of a sincere, enlightened, and entire resigna- 
tion ; " nevertheless, O Lord, not my will but thine be 
done." 

3. In the third place, our prayer in the time of 
affliction must be the prayer of faith. On no occasion 
can we expect that our prayers will meet with a favor- 
able reception or a gracious answer, unless they be 
preferred in the name of Christ. All intercourse with 
God is forbidden which is not carried on through the 
medium of Him, who alone is the true and living " way 
to the Father." Sin has separated between God and 
us ; and it is by the mediation of his own Son, that 
this wall of separation has been removed — that recon- 



SER. 15. PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 313 

ciliation with the divine majesty has been effected — 
that the throne of grace has been made accessible to 
us. And when we apply to the Almighty for any bless- 
ing, the application must be made in a dependance upon 
the merit of that Saviour who has " made peace by the 
blood of his cross," and through whom it is that we re- 
ceive the spirit of adoption, and are permitted to cry 
" Abba Father." But while no prayer, except a be- 
lieving prayer, can at any time be effectual ; there is a 
peculiar propriety in those who pray while they are 
afflicted, being "strong in faith." All our afflictions 
are so many proofs of our being sinners, and, as sin- 
ners, unworthy of the divine favor. Had there been no 
sin, there would have been no suffering. And there- 
fore, when we suffer, we have, in the pain and sorrow 
we endure, an unequivocal demonstration that guilt at- 
taches to us in the sight of God, Guilt and suffering 
being thus associated in our minds, surely we cannot 
reasonably pray that the latter may be removed or mit- 
igated, while no method has been employed to expiate 
the former, or while we do not acknowledge the method 
of expiation which God has compassionately provided. 
If, therefore, there be a necessity for our appealing to 
the merit of the Redeemer, in order that our applica- 
tion for any boon, or mercy whatever, may be attended 
with success, the necessity becomes the stronger and 
more obvious, when that application refers to afflictions 
— every one of which, whether it be great or inconsid- 
erable, reminds us of our disobedience and alienation 
from God, is a standing and impressive evidence that 
we can expect nothing on the footing of personal desert, 
and shuts us up conclusively and effectually, to the 
faith of Him through whom alone we can find accept- 
ance, and obtain the blessings which our prayers m- 
plore. And while in this way there is a peculiar pro- 
priety in the prayer that we offer in reference to our 
afflictions, being that of faith, there is also a peculiar 
encouragement suggested by the same subject. Jesus 
Christ, in whom we trust for the efficacy of our peti- 
27 



314 



PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. SER. 15. 



tions, was a suffering Saviour : it was by suffering that 
he became perfect as the Author of our redemption ; 
and it is because he suffered in our nature and in our 
stead, that he is now "exalted at the right hand of the 
Majesty on high," and that " he ever liveth to make 
intercession for us," and that we are promised " all 
things whatsoever we shall ask in prayer believing." 
When, therefore, we are required to put our confidence 
in him for attaining that comfort and support in afflic- 
tion, or that deliverance from it, or that sanctified use 
of it, which we supplicate at the throne of grace, 
we are required to put our confidence in One who 
"bore our griefs and carried our sorrows" — who was 
" tempted in all things as we are" — who is " touched 
with a fellow-feeling of our infirmities," and whose ad- 
vocacy, therefore, we may rest assured, will be quick- 
ened and invigorated, when it is employed to enforce 
those petitions which we offer up as the children of dis- 
tress. In these circumstances, let us think devoutly of 
all that Jesus endured, while he tabernacled upon earth : 
let us remember that though the days of his mourning 
are long since ended, he has not forgotten the waves 
and the billows of adversity that went over him **in the 
days of his flesh : let us bear in mind that the sympa- 
thies which he manifested in this world cannot have 
forsaken him in the better world into which he has en- 
tered : let us not cease, in all our thoughts of him, to 
associate closely and intimately his present mediation 
in our behalf, with his former suffering in our behalf : 
and when we cry to God from the midst of our troubles 
and trials, let it be with an unwavering and delighted 
confidence in the might, and in the compassion, and in 
the tenderness of our " Great High Priest who has 
passed into the heavens," and who there pleads our 
cause as earnestly and as affectionately as if it were 
his own. 

4. In the fourth place, our prayer in the time of 
affliction, must be the prayer of holiness. The apos- 
tolic precept is, that, in all our addresses to God, we 



SER. 15. PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 



315 



" lift up holy hands." And the Psalmist has also said, 
"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not 
hear me." To approach God in prayer, while con- 
scious that we are enemies to him in our minds, and by 
the habitual course of our conduct, is to insult the purity 
and majesty of his character, and to court as well as to 
incur his indignation. While, therefore we go to him 
in the name of Christ, we should go to him also in the 
sanctification of the Spirit — repenting of our sins, and 
cherishing holy affections, and studying conformity to 
the image of him whom we profess to worship. And 
much more should this be the case, when we address 
ourselves to him as his afflicted offspring. Our afflic- 
tions, though not to be viewed as specific punishments 
for specific transgressions, are yet, agreeably to our 
former remark, to be regarded as tokens of God's dis- 
pleasure against sin, and as significant intimations that 
he will be " sanctified of all them that draw near to 
him." When, therefore we draw near to him in afflic- 
tion, it is the more indispensable that we do so with 
"clean hands and with pure hearts;" having 4' our 
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies 
washed as with pure water." But when I speak of our 
prayer in affliction being the prayer of holiness, I refer 
chiefly to the practical and ultimate end which we 
ought to have in view. " This is the will of God," 
when he lays upon us his chastening hand, " even our 
sanctification." And this is an object of vast impor- 
tance. It is distinctly set before us as the object which 
all our sufferings are appointed, or overruled, to pro- 
mote. And consequently, our prayer, when we are 
subjected to them, should point to it constantly and 
earnestly. We are apt to be contented with asking the 
removal, or the mitigation, of our trials, and to think 
that all is well when we obtain either the one or the 
other. But, alas ! we have gained nothing that is sub- 
stantially and permanently beneficial, unless they have 
been made instrumental in improving our principles and 
our character ; and unless from our experience of a 



316 



PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. SER. 15. 



sanctified result, we can say with truth, " it is good for 
us that we have been afflicted." Such effects as these, 
are precious in the sight of God ; they are precious to 
us now, and they will be precious to us forever : where- 
as a mere deliverance from pain and misfortune, how- 
ever immediate, and however complete, has no neces- 
sary bearing on the destiny of our souls, and is quite 
compatible with our continuance under " the curse of 
the law," and our endurance of the terrors of " the 
second death." Let us, therefore, keep continually in 
view the practical benefits which our afflictions may be 
the means of securing ; and let us pray that we may 
derive from them all the advantage which they are 
fitted to confer. Let us pray that they may be sancti- 
fied for weaning us more and more from the world and 
from sin — for bringing us into a closer walk with God, 
and for rendering us more submissive to his will, and 
more active in his service. Let us pray that, though 
for the present, they may " not seem joyous but griev- 
ous," yet that, cost what it will to our tenderest feel- 
ings, they may work out for us the " peaceable fruits of 
righteousness." And finally, let us pray that they may 
have such an influence on our whole temper and our 
whole conduct, as to contribute to the cultivation of that 
character by which we may be qualified for the offices 
and the enjoyments of the sinless and unsufFering king- 
dom of our God and Saviour. 

5. Lastly, our prayer in affliction must be the prayer 
of hope. Unless, indeed, we had hope that prayer 
would be attended with some benefit, we should scarcely 
think of engaging in it at all. At least, our engaging in 
it would, on the contrary supposition, be little else than 
obedience to arbitrary authority, and would speedily 
degenerate into cold and heartless formality. In order 
to keep alive the spirit of devotion, and to render our 
distresses motives instead of discouragements to it, we 
should keep in mind not only the blessings which are 
promised, but the grounds which are afforded for our 
confident expectation that every promise will be fulfilled, 



SER. 15. PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 317 

and that nothing will be withheld which our real interest 
requires. Let us look to the character of Him to whom 
our afflicted hearts are lifted up in prayer. Let us lis- 
ten to the gracious and animating declarations which he 
has given in his word on this subject. Let us remem- 
ber the merit and the advocacy of his Son, through 
whom he condescends to regard and to hear us. Let 
us think of the love of his Spirit, who teaches us to pray 
as we ought, and who " makes intercession for us with 
groanings which cannot be uttered." And let us re- 
member the happy experience of his people in every 
age, who have fled to him in the season of their adversi- 
ties, and been made glad at the throne of his mercy and 
in his house of prayer. AH these things combine to 
show, that so far from having any reason to doubt of his 
lending a favorable ear to our requests and our complaints, 
we have irresistible inducements for anticipating the 
most compassionate treatment — for expecting to receive 
all mat we ask and all that we need. Let us, therefore, 
pray in hope ; and thus do homage to the grace and the 
faithfulness of him upon whom we call, and encourage 
ourselves to petition for a supply to our w T ants, as large 
and as liberal as their multitude, and their extent, and 
their complicated variety, may demand. Let us pray 
in the hope that God will " bind up our broken hearts," 
and " strengthen our feeble knees," and heal our wound- 
ed spirits ; and that if he should not see meet to rescue 
us from the sorrows by which w r e are oppressed, he 
would give us strength to bear them with fortitude and 
patience. Let us pray in the hope, that, continuing us 
in the furnace of affliction, he will make the trial sub- 
servient to our spiritual purification and our moral ad- 
vancement. And let us pray in the hope which looks 
beyond a present world — beyond all its joys and all its af- 
flictions — which " enters into that within the vail" — and 
fixes its longing and delighted eye on " the rest that re- 
maineth for the people of God," and on the recompense 
of those who have " come through much tribulation," 
and have entered into glory. 
*27 



318 



PRAYER IN AFFLICTION* SER. 15. 



Thus praying, my Christian friends, in the season of 
affliction, the happiest consequences may reasonably, 
may confidently, be expected. There is in the exer- 
cise itself a direct and manifest tendency to produce 
beneficial effects, independently of any specific promises 
which God has annexed to it. It implies the recogni- 
tion of God as that Being by whom our lot in the world 
is arranged, and to whose sovereign rule we ourselves, 
and all that we have, and all that can affect our feel- 
ings or our condition, are necessarily and unreservedly 
subject. It implies the serious contemplation of those 
attributes of his character, and of those ways of his 
providence, which are calculated to reconcile us to 
every thing that befals us, by assuring us of its gracious 
purpose, and of its final and glorious issue. It implies, 
in the various views, and meditations, and petitions with 
which it employs the mind, the union, equally soothing 
and sanctifying, of our severest sufferings, with what- 
ever is elevating in faith, and excellent in conduct, and 
delightful in anticipation. It implies the assured and 
gratifying confidence with which, as the children of 
God, we pour all our fears, and anxieties, and distres- 
ses into the bosom of our heavenly Father ; and repose 
our wearied and agitated hearts on the manifestation of 
his paternal character, and on the experience of his 
paternal Jove ; and combine, in all the tenderness and 
in all the energy of filial affection, the faithful discipline 
to which he subjects us upon earth, with the holy and 
unfading inheritance which he has laid up for us in 
heaven. 

And, while such is the native and blessed influence 
of prayer in the season of affliction, we are to recollect, 
that prayer is the instituted means of obtaining from 
God the grace that is necessary to support and comfort, 
to sanctify and deliver us. We have no title to look 
for any blessing from him, except through its instru- 
mentality. But, if we engage in it in a proper spirit 
and in a proper manner, he is pledged by the wisdom 
of his plans and the consistency of his administration, to 



SER. 15. PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 



319 



grant us according to the voice of our petitions. He 
commands us to cry to him in the midst of our per- 
plexities and sorrows; and supposing his command- 
ment stood alone and unconnected with any promise, 
it would mean nothing less than that our cry would be 
kindly and compassionately regarded. But there is a 
promise, to give ardor to our supplications and comfort 
to our hearts — a promise that he will graciously hear 
us, and that he will send us an answer full of pity and 
beneficence. And though " all his promises are yea 
and amen in Christ Jesus," yet if there be one of them 
on whose fulfilment we can count with certainty, it is 
that which, as " the Father of mercies and the God of 
all consolation," he holds out to his people, when they 
" call upon him in the time of trouble." He may not 
indeed, be pleased to give them those precise expres- 
sions of his regard, which they make the object of their 
request. They may have asked these in ignorance or 
in error, and it may be a part of the very mercy which 
they were imploring to withhold them for a time, or to 
withhold them altogether. But they may rest assured, 
that behind this cloud of grief and disappointment, there 
is a love which melts for their distresses — which is 
lending a compassionate ear to all their aspirations — 
which is silently, but effectually, guarding and protect- 
ing and blessing them — and which is minutely providing 
for them, and tenderly applying to them, every thing 
that is truly desirable, either as to their state of feeling 
under affliction, or as to their character upon earth, and 
their felicity in heaven. 

Yes, my believing friends, when you were bowed 
down with sorrow, you went to the throne of grace, and 
in the spirit of humility and submission, and in the 
name of your merciful High Priest, you besought the 
Lord to interpose in your behalf, and you can bear the 
testimony of a blessed experience to the readiness with 
which he hears, and to the liberality with which he an- 
swers, his people, when they " cry unto him out of the 
depths." You were lightened by " casting your bur- 



320 



PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. SER. 15. 



den upon Him who has promised " to sustain it." You 
received deeper impressions of those great and precious 
truths which he has revealed for the comfort of them 
that mourn. You heard, as it were, a voice from 
heaven speaking peace to your troubled mind. You 
felt yourselves soothed amidst the pains which harassed, 
and raised above the fears which agitated you. You 
obtained strength to bear with fortitude the trials with 
which you were visited, and to encounter with tranquil- 
lity the ills that were yet to beset your path : and were 
enabled not only to endure with patience, but even to 
" rejoice in tribulation ;" to bless the name of the Lord, 
though he had taken from you your dearest earthly 
comforts; to mingle with the saddest notes of lamenta- 
tion, the accents of gratitude and praise to him whose 
rod had smitten you ; and to rise from your knees, 
cheered by what you had tasted of the grace of God, 
" encompassed with songs of deliverance," and animated 
by a more vigorous and more lively exercise of the 
hope that is full of immortality." 

And if there be any to whom all this is rather an ob- 
ject of desire than a matter of experience ; any who 
have been afflicted, and who have prayed and have not 
found the comfort, or the relief, or the benefit, which 
they asked and expected ; and who are shedding tears 
which there is no hand to wipe away; who are " walk- 
ing in darkness and have no light ;" who are suffering 
and supplicating and suffering still; to such of you I 
would say, distrust not the promises of your God, nor 
the intercessions of your Saviour : " follow on to know 
the Lord," and you shall know him as " the Hearer of 
prayer," and as " a present help in the time of need ;" 
wrestle, as did Jacob, with " the Angel of his pres- 
ence:" be importunate with him as was the widow who 
" cried day and night ;" and sooner or later, in one 
form or in another, you shall find, in the rest and com- 
fort which are imparted to your soul, that he has not 
forgotten, but has been " waiting, to be gracious." And 
should you still be doomed to seek rest and not to find 



SER. 15. PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 321 



it ; should the earth be mourning under your feet, and 
the heaven above you be clothed with blackness, and 
should even the shades of death be closing in upon you, 
without any sensible communication of divine comfort, 
and without any distinct perception of the reasonable- 
ness and utility of your afflictions, notwithstanding a 
thousand and a thousand intreaties for light and deliv- 
erance, even then I would say to you, — " continue in- 
stant in prayer, still trust in God," still bend before his 
throne of mercy, and still cherish the hope that at 
length he will give you complete relief and everlasting 
consolation ; that the prayers of suffering mortality shall 
ere long be converted into the anthems of unmingled 
praise; and that, in the unclouded light of heaven, you 
shall see the faithfulness of Him whose hand had here 
pressed so heavily on your spirit ; and admire the wis- 
dom and the mercy of that thorny way by which he 
had led you to your eternal home, and lift up the song 
of rapturous and never-ending gratitude to him for those 
very providences which here had well nigh overthrown 
your faith, and well nigh broken your heart. 

But, what shall I say to those who are strangers to 
prayer; who habitually neglect this duty; and who,wheth- 
er in joy or in sorrow, never devoutly look up to God, to 
thank him for the one, or to supplicate from him relief 
and comfort in the other ? Ah ! my friends, if you are 
not given to prayer ; if prayer does not form a constit- 
uent part of your religious exercises ; if you have not 
its spirit dwelling in you ; and if it does not hold its due 
place in your character — you are not Christians, and 
cannot appropriate the promises, or look forward to the 
inheritance, unfolded in the gospel. You may call 
yourselves by what name you please ; you may make 
the most specious professions before the world ; you 
may sit down with great outward solemnity at the 
Lord's Table ; and you may have the reputation, and 
even the reality, of much personal virtue and much ac- 
tive benevolence ; but not praying to God who com- 



322 



PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. SER. 15. 



mands you to pray to him — not making use of this ap- 
pointed method of obtaining forgiveness, and sanctifica- 
tion, and eternal life ; you must necessarily remain 
guilty and corrupted — children of wrath and heirs of 
hell. This is the conclusion that the word of God 
forces upon you, and from which no ingenuity can en- 
able you to escape. And have you courage to rest in 
this conclusion ? Are you prepared for enduring the 
gnawings of " the worm that never dies," and the tor- 
ments of "the fire that is never quenched ?" Are you 
ready to meet in judgment, and to bear through eter- 
nity, the vengeance of that God whose commandment 
you have disobeyed, and whose kindness you have set 
at nought? None of you, I trust, is so stout-hearted. 
" Arise, then, and call upon your God." " Seek him 
while he maybe found, call upon him while he is near." 
Delay not till death has formed an impassable gulf be- 
tween you and your Maker. You are now not far 
from the graves where the dust of many of your fathers, 
and your neighbors, and your friends, is reposing in 
awful and unbroken silence. And you know not how 
soon — you know not how suddenly — your dust shall be 
mingled with theirs. O then, improve this the " day 
of your merciful visitation" — and " harden not your 
hearts." Live no longer " without God in the world." 
Let it not be said of any one of you, when you are 
sleeping in the earth, "This is the grave of one who 
once had free access to the throne of grace, but never 
w^nt to it — never bent his knees — never lifted up his 
eye to heaven — never uttered a devout petition — never 
conceived one cordial wish for the salvation of his soul. 
And now the ear of mercy is shut, and the power of 
addressing it is gone forever." O thoughtless and 
prayerless sinner, return unto Him whom you have for- 
saken, and away from whom you can have no comfort 
in distress, no happiness in life, no hope at the hour of 
dissolution. Return to him — return to him with your 
whole heart ; return to him through Jesus Christ, who 



SER. 15. PRAYER IN AFFLICTION. 



323 



is the true and living way ; and he will " receive you 
graciously" — he will "love you freely" — he will put 
into your heart " the spirit of grace and supplication" — 
he will guide you through the wilderness in which you 
are now wandering with heedless steps ; and he will at 
length conduct you into the land of promise and of 
eternal rest. 



SERMON XVI.* 



THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. 

JEREMIAH xvii. 14. 

a Save me, O Lord, and I shall be saved." 

These are the words of a true penitent. It is probable 
that they were used by the Prophet, in reference to the 
persecutions in which he was involved, as a messenger 
of God, and a preacher of righteousness. But if they 
were rightly employed by him, when exposed to out- 
ward or partial dangers, with still greater propriety may 
they be employed by those who feel that they are sub- 
ject to all the evils and perils which sin brings upon its 
votaries. And it is in this application that we propose 
to make them the subject of our present discourse. 

I. In the first place, then, we may regard them as 
expressing a deep concern about salvation, and an 
earnest desire to obtain it. 

Every man's real state as a sinner consists in his be- 
ing under a sentence of condemnation and under the 
dominion of depravity ; and in his being liable, in a 



* Preached in St. George's Church, before the celebration of the Lord's 
Supper, on Sabbath, 5th November, 1825. 



SER. 16. THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. 



325 



future world, to all the threatened and dreadful conse- 
quences of his violation of the divine law. This is the 
fact ; though it often, alas ! too often, happens that 
those with respect to whom it is most undeniably true, 
are either not aware of it, or not alive to it ; and though 
continuing to be thus ignorant, or thus careless, they 
have nothing to expect but final and inevitable ruin. 

All, however, are not so insensible to the horrors 
of their situation. There are some who have been 
awakened to a conviction of their sin and misery, who 
not merely acknowledge that they are transgressors, 
but are roused to a serious and alarming view both of the 
degradations and of the perils which are attached to 
that character, and who are oppressed by an overpow- 
ering perception, and a deep unconquerable feeling, of 
the helplessness and hopelessness of their fallen condi- 
tion. In such circumstances there exists a strong and 
restless anxiety to be delivered from the evils with 
which their consciences are burdened, and from that 
everlasting destruction into which sin will ultimately 
plunge its victims, and which rises up before them as 
the fate to which they are justly doomed. Looking up 
to God, and beholding in him the Being whose will 
they have disobeyed, whose goodness they have des- 
pised, whose indignation they have provoked ; looking 
forward to futurity, and realizing " the judgment of the 
great day," " the worm that never dies," and " the fire 
that never shall be quenched ;" and calling to mind, 
and dwelling upon, the multitude of circumstances by 
which their guilt has been aggravated, and by which 
their punishment shall be increased ; how dreadful the 
apprehensions by which they are agitated ! how poig- 
nant their distress, how intense and vehement their de- 
sire for deliverance from the divine displeasure, arid 
from " the wrath to come !" 

But the true penitent is troubled not merely at the 
thought of condemnation ; nor does he confine his 
longings to deliverance from it. The wrath to which 
he is exposed may be first and uppermost in his mind ; 
28 



326 



THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. SER. 16. 



nor are we to wonder that for a season it should absorb 
every other consideration, and that it should never 
cease to occupy a large portion of his anxiety. But 
his views of salvation are much more enlarged. He 
adverts not merely to the greatest and most overwhelm- 
ing of the calamities of which his sinfulness is produc- 
tive — he regards every one of them with proportional 
concern, and is solicitous for its removal. He not only 
cherishes a lively aversion to all that stings him with 
remorse, or that fills him with alarm ; he mourns also 
the loss of those positive blessings of which his apostacy 
has deprived him, and thirsts for their recovery. He 
limits not his attention to any one department of his 
sinful and miserable estate, nor treats the most incon- 
siderable portion of it with coldness or unconcern ; he 
surveys it through all its variety and extent, and feels 
alive to all the fears it is fitted to create, and to all the 
pain it is fitted to inflict, and to all the solicitude it is 
fitted to awaken. And salvation, in its most compre- 
hensive import, becomes the object of his intensest 
interest and of his fondest affection, as implying his 
emancipation from all that is most formidable, and his 
attainment of all that is most precious, to a fallen but 
immortal nature. The anxiety of which he is con- 
scious is not merely to escape from hell ; as if, escaping 
from hell, he were careless about his future destiny; 
he knows that he has lost heaven, the place of happi- 
ness and purity, for which he was originally formed, 
and which is worthy of his best ambition, and he is de- 
sirous to regain it. It is not merely to be relieved from 
the terror of God 1 s anger, as if, would God but cease 
to frown on him, he were careless how God might re- 
gard him otherwise ; but to be reconciled to him and 
to " walk in the light of his countenance," from the 
persuasion that this would be alike his honor and his 
joy. It is not merely to be restored to the favor of 
God, and to the hope of heaven, as if he would be sat- 
isfied to have these along with the gratification of still 
unmortified passions, and the possession of a still rebel- 



SER. 16. THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. 



327 



lious heart ; but to be renewed and purified as well as 
pardoned and accepted ; to be rescued from the bond- 
age of corruption, as well as from the curse of the law ; 
to be introduced into the liberty of God's children, 
as well as made an heir of their inheritance ; to be 
made fit for holding communion with God here, by the 
removal at once of guilt and of pollution, and to have this 
as a foretaste of that more perfect and blissful fel- 
lowship which his people are to maintain with him 
hereafter. 

We do not say that all these views occur to the true 
penitent, at the very first stage of his transition, or that 
they ever occur to him in the precise and methodical 
order in which we have stated them. There may be a 
considerable indistinctness with regard to many partic- 
ulars which have a place in his mind, and by which his 
mind is, notwithstanding, in no small degree affected. 
It may be long before certain points, even of material 
moment, come into his contemplation, or attract much 
of his notice, or strongly influence his heart. And all 
along the prevailing sentiment may frequently be an 
awful apprehension of God's vengeance against the sin- 
ner, and of the hazard in which he individually, as a 
sinner, stands, of falling into perdition. But though he 
must be chiefly occupied with the great leading features 
of his condition, as one who has incurred the penalty of 
hell, and forfeited his right to heaven ; and though the 
contemplation of these is sufficient to stir up his soul to 
serious reflection and distressing anxiety on the subject 
of his personal salvation, yet he will not rest satisfied 
with any thing short of a full detailed consideration of 
all the mischiefs from which that salvation will free him, 
and of all the benefits to which it will restore him. And 
the longer and the more minutely he meditates upon 
these, the more importance will he attach to the salva- 
tion that he needs, the more necessary will he perceive 
it to be to his welfare, the more heartfelt will be his 
concern, and the more decided his desire to obtain it. 



328 



THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. SER. 16. 



II. The true penitent being thus awakened to a sense 
of his need of salvation, and to unfeigned and anxious 
concern about obtaining it, he applies for it to Almighty 
God. "Save me, O Lord." 

Before he was brought to think seriously of his situ- 
ation, and to see his guilt and his danger, God was no 
more the object of his depend ance, than he was the 
object of his veneration. He neither recognised Him 
as the ruler of his conduct, nor as the source of his 
blessings, but habitually disregarded him when he need- 
ed help, as he habitually disobeyed him, when passion 
prompted, or when temptation occurred. But now 
that his sinfulness, and the peril with which it threatens 
him, are brought home to his inmost conviction — -now 
that he discovers an. evil impending over him, which 
human skill and human strength are equally unable to 
avert — now that he is made aware of his absolute need 
of blessings which lie beyond his utmost reach — now 
that he feels himself so situated as that no resources of 
his own, no help from the mightiest of his fellow-menj 
nor even the interposition of the highest of created be- 
ings, can prevent him from falling into irretrievable ruin 
— he turns his eye to that God whom he has so long 
forgotten, and so much despised, and perceives in Him 
the grace and the power from which alone he can ex- 
pect the salvation he requires. 

This may be an immediate, or it may be a more 
tardy, result of his convictions of guilt and wretchedness 
as a transgressor ; but sooner or later it is the conse- 
quence of these convictions, and forms the termination 
of his anxieties, and the resting place of his soul. Per- 
haps he obtains such a striking and impressive view of 
his miserable condition by sin, and is so overborne by a 
sense of his utter inability to do any thing for himself, 
and is so satisfied that he has nothing to hope for from 
the arm of created strength, and has been so much ac- 
customed to hear God spoken of as merciful and omnip- 
otent, and so willingly and readily believes all that the 
scriptures have declared respecting these attributes} and 



SER. 16. THE PENITENT'S PRAYER, 



329 



is withal so guided and determined by the teaching of 
the divine Spirit, who is with him in every step of his 
progress — that he is led at once and without hesitation 
to cast his regards towards Jehovah, and to trust in Him 
and in Him exclusively for salvation. Or it may not 
be till after various struggles and repeated disappoint- 
ments — till he has tried to pacify his conscience by 
thinking lightly of his worst sins, and fondly of his seem- 
ing virtues — till he has thrown himself upon time or 
chance, or something else as vain and empty — it may not 
be till after such experiments as these to which the car- 
nal mind is so apt to cling pertinaciously and perversely, 
that he looks to God as his only refuge, and turns to 
him as his strong hold in the midst of agitation and 
trouble. In this case, it is but gradually that the insuf- 
ficiency of those helps to which he had recourse, is 
made apparent to him. One of them after another, he 
feels to be unsuitable and inadequate. He finds that 
he has nothing approaching to rest or peace, except in 
those moments when he is favored with a glimpse of 
divine compassion. And at last he turns his back on all 
" the refuges of lies" which had only deceived and per- 
plexed him, and concludes the spiritual strife which 
wrought within him, by committing himself with hope 
and with confidence to the Lord his God. 

At whatever period he is brought to this issue, he 
cannot but be convinced, that in it, and in no other, can 
he find deliverance and repose. It must be obvious to him 
that whatever else has invited his affiance, or promised 
him relief, has only been deluding him ; for as it is 
against God that he has sinned, and to God that he is 
accountable, nothing can possibly screen him from the 
proper consequences of his guilt, which does not orig- 
inate in the authoritative appointment and good pleasure 
of God. It is the peculiar prerogative of God to deter- 
mine whether sinners shall be saved at all, and if so, by 
what means that operation of his sovereignty shall be 
accomplished, and to whom, amidst the multitude of 
transgressors, the high privilege shall be granted. When, 



330 



THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. SER. 16. 



therefore, the awakened sinner turns away his thoughts 
and his reliance from God, he can experience nothing 
but failure and disappointment. And indeed, whenever 
he allows himself to look steadily at his mentaf inquie- 
tudes, he must be sensible that they all arise from a 
consciousness of having offended God ; and thus the 
very circumstance which constitutes his need of deliv- 
erance, and makes him so anxious to obtain it, necessa- 
rily directs his view to God, as the only source from 
which it can be derived. 

But the true penitent is not only so hedged in, that 
he must either apply to God, or perish in his iniquities; 
he is also persuaded to make that application, by the 
comfortable and encouraging representations of the di- 
vine character that are set before him in the gospel. 
This indeed is essential to his making that application, 
in a right spirit, and with ultimate success. Did he see 
nothing in the divine character but holiness to hate sin, 
and justice to award condemnation, and omnipotence to 
execute the sentence on the guilty, he could scarcely 
dare to address himself to the Being, of whom these at- 
tributes were the sole characteristics, for any redemption 
from his misery. This would be more like the effect of 
mad despair, than the expression of natural feeling, or 
of rational purpose, and could never be expected either 
to impart comfort, or to terminate in salvation. But 
the true penitent has been enabled to entertain more 
correct and honorable views of the perfections of God. 
God is indeed revealed to his mind as holy, and just, 
and powerful ; but with these attributes the contemplation 
of which is so directly calculated to convince him of his 
perilous and miserable state as a sinner, there is con- 
joined the richest mercy, and the tenderest compassion, 
which forbid him to sink into despondency, or to regard 
himself as utterly abandoned to wretchedness. Nay, it is 
the knowledge that such mercy and compassion belong 
to God, and compunction for having aggravated his guilt 
by perseverance in sin, while such mercy and compas- 
sion were so often displayed before his eyes, and exer- 



SER. 16. THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. 



331 



cised towards himself, that inflict upon his conscience 
the bitterest pangs he is now doomed to feel. In this 
way, the very occasion of his most poignant sorrow, and 
of his most dreadful anticipations, is also the occasion 
of his looking to God, and trusting in Him for salvation, 
by reminding him that He whose displeasure he has 
incurred, and whose wrath he has so much reason to 
fear, is no more relentless than he is unrighteous, and 
that notwithstanding all the provocations he has received 
from his apostate children, and all their contempt of his 
law, and ingratitude for his forbearance, he has not for- 
gotten to pity them, and has not allowed their perverse- 
ness to quench his love, but has this for his unchangeable 
memorial, that he is " the Lord, the Lord God, merciful 
and gracious, long-suffering and slow to anger, abundant 
in goodness and in truth." Nor does the true penitent 
rest contented with general impressions of God ? s com- 
passion to sinners, and of his willingness to save them. 
He takes that nearer, and still more interesting, view of 
the subject which is afforded by the dispensation of the 
gospel. There God is revealed as not only declaring 
that he is ready to extend forgiveness to the guilty, but 
as embodying his declarations in a plan for their re- 
demption — as giving his own Son to be a sacrifice of 
atonement for the sin of the world — as making every 
provision which unbounded goodness could dictate for 
the accomplishment of his benevolent design — as assur- 
ing us that Christ whom he has appointed to execute it, 
is commissioned to save even the chief of sinners — as 
affectionately inviting the most unworthy, and the most 
helpless to come to him by that "new and living way" 
which he has opened up for their approach, and as con- 
straining them to accept of the invitation by the gracious 
assurance that he has " no pleasure in the death of the 
wicked," but would rather that they should " turn to 
him and live." And, to God revealed to him in this 
endearing light — to God in whom " mercy rejoiceth 
against judgment," and who has said and demonstrated 
that he will not reject even the guiltiest of our race that 



332 



the penitent's prayer, ser. 16, 



comes to him through the appointed Mediator- — it is im- 
possible that the true penitent should look with any portion 
of indifference or distrust, or that he should go to Him 
with reluctance or with jealousy, or that he should not 
surrender himself to Him, in the humble but assured hope 
that He will be to him the rock of his salvation. The 
nature and exigency of his situation compel him to have 
recourse to God as alone able to deliver him. The divine 
mercy exhibited in the gospel encourages him to put his 
confidence in God, as perfectly willing to bestow the 
deliverance he is so anxious to attain. Every new proof 
that he discovers of God's kindness gives him a more 
forcible impression of the heinousness of his guilt and of 
the folly of his conduct, and shows him still more clearly 
how much he must lose by remaining in a state of 
alienation and impenitence, and thus adds a fresh and 
double impulse to the anxiety that he feels, and the de- 
sire that he cherishes, for pardon and reconciliation. 
It, therefore, becomes the spontaneous, and the pre- 
dominant, and the continued out-going of his affections, 
" Save me, O Lord, and I shall be saved." 

III. This leads me to observe, in the third place, that 
the true penitent applies to God for salvation through 
the medium of prayer, " Save me, O Lord." 

In ordinary cases, if we be laboring under the pres- 
sure of any evil, and be acquainted with any individual 
who is both willing and able to remove it: Or, if we have 
trespassed against a fellow-mortal, whose displeasure 
we are anxious to turn away, and whose friendship we 
are anxious to regain, and on whose inclination to be 
reconciled we have reason to depend : In these, and in 
all similar instances, we invariably employ the language 
of petition — we ask what we wish to have, and what we 
believe there is a disposition to give. And he who in 
such circumstances should neglect that mode of attain- 
ing his object would be accounted foolish, or insincere, 
or inconsistent. In like manner, it cannot be supposed 
that the sinner should have his eyes open to see the 
awful hazard which encompasses him as a rebel against 



SER. 16. THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. 



333 



heaven — that he should be full of the alarm which that 
object is so powerfully fitted to excite — that he should 
be truly desirous to escape from the destruction that is 
about to overtake him, and to obtain the blessings of 
pardon, and sanctification, and eternal life which stand 
opposed to it — that he should give full credit to God's 
testimony, and pay due homage to God's character when 
he provides, and promises, and offers to him all that can 
secure his safety and his happiness ; and yet, that he should 
not beseech God to impart to him what he so absolutely 
needs, and what God is so ready to bestow. This can- 
not be supposed. It is quite unnatural. It never did 
happen, and it never can happen. Piety, in all its 
forms, and at all its stages, finds its utterance in prayer. 
And this is especially its utterance when connected with 
the experience of calamities that must be taken away, 
or of wants that must be supplied. The moment that 
the sinner feels the real burden of his transgressions, 
and is made fully sensible of his need of divine mercy, 
that moment he as naturally, and as necessarily, cries 
to God, for the requisite communications, as the hungry 
child craves bread from its bountiful parent, or as the 
condemned criminal supplicates pardon from his com- 
passionate sovereign. A man may ask forgiveness, while 
destitute of the emotions and workings of genuine re- 
pentance. But that request is just as indispensable to 
the true penitent as any one feeling by which his heart 
is pervaded, or any one action by which his conduct is 
distinguished. If you can say of any sinner, "Behold 
he repenteth," you may say, at the same moment, and 
with equal certainty, " Behold he prayeth !" 

And the penitent transgressor not only feels his heart 
naturally lifted up to God in prayer, when convinced 
that it is he " from whom cometh his aid ;" he also ap- 
plies in that way, in conformity to the divine institution. 
He knows that prayer is the appointed method of seek- 
ing for and obtaining the blessings of salvation. It is 
sanctioned and ordained by that very Being to whom 
he is to be indebted for " every good and perfect gift.'' 



334 



THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. SER. 16. 



Disregarding it, he is aware that all his guilt will remain 
uncancelled, and all his spiritual necessities unsupplied. 
But employing it aright, he has the assurance that 
nothing shall be withheld which is essential to his wel- 
fare. He is too much humbled under the weight of his 
demerit — too much mortified by the folly and the way- 
wardness of his past doings — too much shut up to a de- 
pendance on divine wisdom and divine bounty, for the 
deliverance for which he so deeply sighs, to have any 
disrelish for the ordinance by which his offended Maker 
has seen proper that he shall acknowledge his unworthi- 
ness and destitution, and procure those benefits to which 
he has otherwise no just title, and which must come to 
him from the Hearer of prayer, or not come at all. Far 
from objecting to it, he acquiesces in it with cheerfulness 
and gratitude. He regards it as a token of the conde- 
scension and kindness of his heavenly Father. He re- 
cognises in it a wise, as well as a merciful, adaptation to 
the feelings which animate him, and to the situation in 
which he stands. He feels that he is a criminal, self- 
condemned and self-abased, trembling, yet hoping, in 
the presence of that God who at once hates sin and 
pities the sinner. He is aware that his weakness, his 
blindness, his degeneracy, require that his intercourse 
with the Eternal shall pass through a channel so level 
to his apprehension and so suited to his case, as that of 
prayer and supplication. He, therefore, goes at once 
to the throne of grace ; pours out the convictions, and 
confessions, and desires of a broken and contrite heart ; 
makes all his requests known to God, who has declared 
that he will " regard the prayer of the destitute," and 
not despise it ; and asks that he may receive " mercy 
to pardon him, and grace to help him in his time of 
need." " Save me, O Lord, and I shall be saved." 

But while the true penitent prays for salvation it must 
not be forgotten that his prayer is the prayer of faith. 
It sometimes happens that sinners who are in some 
measure alarmed by a sense of their manifold trespasses, 
and by the threatenings of death and punishment which 



SER. 16. THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. 



335 



the divine law denounces against them, do betake them- 
selves to the mercy of God, and do entreat his forgive- 
ness. But their notions of that mercy are vague, and 
unscriptural, and derogatory both to its nature and its 
perfection as a divine attribute ; their entreaties for for- 
giveness therefore are destitute of that meaning, and of 
those accompaniments, without which they can neither be 
acceptable nor successful. They do not trust in God's 
mercy, as it is made known to them in his own revela- 
tion : they do not pray according to the instructions he 
has given, and in submission to the appointments he 
has made. It is not the salvation of the gospel of which 
they feel their need, or about which they are concerned ; 
it is not the salvation of the gospel which they implore ; 
and accordingly it is not the salvation of the gospel, 
which they can ever attain. They know not God, as 
a God of mercy, for they know not Christ, in whom 
alone he is merciful; and confiding in God, and ap- 
plying to him for mercy, without reference to Christ, 
through whom alone it is either revealed or promised, 
they are as far from the forgiveness which they profess 
to aspire after, as if they had never passed one thought 
upon it, or uttered one petition for it. Very different, 
however, are the sentiments entertained, and the course 
pursued, by the true penitent, when he " cries out of 
the depths," " God, be merciful to me a sinner." No 
doubt this supplication is dictated by a sense of danger 
and a desire for safety ; but it is accompanied with an 
enlightened view of the attributes of God, and of the 
manner in which God has been pleased to manifest his 
compassion to guilty men. He knows that it is for 
Christ's sake that the divine Being is willing to pardon 
and redeem, because it is only in that way that he can do 
so consistently with the honor of his character and his 
government ; and therefore it is only in the name of 
Christ that he ventures to approach the divine pres- 
ence, and only in reliance on the merits of Christ that 
he ventures to ask the blessings of forgiveness and ac- 
ceptance. And, indeed, such now are his views of the 



336 



THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. SER. 16. 



evil of sin, and such his regards towards the God to 
whom he addresses himself, that he would not think of 
asking any communication from him except on such 
terms as would maintain the divine authority inviolate, 
and the divine glory untarnished. Nor does he feel 
himself under any temptation to put up a single prayer 
that would in the least degree, or in any respect, demand 
such a sacrifice. In consequence of what Christ has 
done and suffered, in obedience to the will of God, and 
in behalf of perishing sinners, God is "rich in mercy 
and plenteous in redemption to all that call upon his 
name." There is nothing which they need, and which 
He may not dispense so as at once to satisfy them and 
glorify himself. And therefore the believing penitent 
draws near to Him, in the spirit and attitude of an hum- 
ble, yet hoping, suppliant ; and in the exercise of that 
faith which embraces in one view the grace of God and 
the righteousness of the Redeemer, breathes forth the 
petitions of his heart in the language of the prophet, 
" Save me, O Lord, and I shall be saved." 

IV. In the fourth and last place, the language of the 
text expresses the confidence which the true penitent 
feels, that if the salvation which he asks be granted, it 
will be altogether such as his circumstances require, 
and such as will more than gratify his utmost wishes. 

The phraseology is peculiar, and its peculiarity gives 
it an emphasis far beyond what its literal meaning pos- 
sesses. It is as if the penitent said to God whom he is 
addressing, " Were any other being to undertake my 
salvation, I should not be saved. There would be 
some imperfection in the achievement. It would have 
the appearance, without the reality, of being efficient. 
It would be an attempt, but not attended with success. 
It would be something that offered and promised, and 
tried, and seemed, to deliver me; and after all, left me 
to perish. But if thou thyself save me, I shall be saved 
indeed. There will be no defect in any one particular 
by which my fate can be affected. There will be no 
feebleness in the purpose ; no inadequacy in the power ; 



SER. 16. THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. 



337 



no deficiency in the means ; no failure in the result. 
The perfection of thy nature must reign in all thy 
works ; and that provides a security that nothing can 
occur to frustrate or to impair the work of my salva- 
tion." 

This may not be precisely the language, but it is the 
sentiment of every believing penitent. It is dictated by 
the first distinct view that he obtains of God as a 
Saviour ; and the longer that he meditates on the attri- 
butes of God, and on the declarations of his word, and 
on the method of redemption, the more is he satisfied 
that, if what he asks be vouchsafed, there will be 
nothing left for him to deprecate on the one hand, or to 
desire on the other. And if, in some gloomy moment, 
any doubt or distrust should steal into his mind, it is 
banished by the next survey that he takes of the power 
and the mercy to which he has committed the fortunes 
of his soul, and he again returns to the unsuspecting 
and heartfelt assurance with which he presented that 
expressive prayer, " Save me, O Lord, and 1 shall be 
saved." 

It is impossible to estimate fully the value of that sal- 
vation which cometh from the Lord, without an exact 
attention to all the blessings of which it consists, and all 
the properties by which it is distinguished. The simplest 
view, indeed, that can be taken of it, is sufficient to 
show that it is worthy of our most intense anxiety, of 
our most ardent ambition, of our most fervent supplica- 
tions. But it is just in proportion as it is unfolded to 
our contemplation, or as it comes to be a matter of ex- 
perience, that we shall feel the mixed sentiment of de- 
sire to possess it, and of confidence that, when pos- 
sessed, it will prove a satisfying portion, which is inti- 
mated in the phraseology of the text. And it is only 
in heaven — when we shall have left behind us all dark- 
ness, and doubt, and fear — when we shall be freed 
from the temptations without, and the corruptions 
within, which here annoy and endanger us — when the 
sentence of acquittal shall have been openly and audi- 
29 



338 



THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. SER, 16* 



bly pronounced upon us from the throne of final retri- 
bution — when we shall behold the face of a reconciled 
God beaming upon us, and no consciousness of guilt shall 
arise in our minds to obscure its brightness — when we 
shall be in the presence of that Saviour who shall then 
have actually brought us out of all our perils and tribu- 
lations, that we may dwell in his unsuffering kingdom, 
and sit down with him on his exalted throne — when sin 
and sorrow shall be recollected as the things of old, and 
the recollection of them shall be either absorbed in the 
possession of a purity that is unspotted, and of a joy 
that is unspeakable, or made by contrast to enhance 
our bliss, and animate our hymn of praise ; it is only in 
heaven that we can understand the full meaning of this 
language which the penitent uses, respecting the salva- 
tion which he supplicates from the Lord, because it is 
there only that we can have the conscious, and de- 
lightful, and unchangeable feeling of being perfectly 
safe, perfectly holy, and perfectly happy. 

But to us that land of vision is only in prospect, the 
salvation which dwells in it is only the object of an- 
ticipation. We are yet in die wilderness, where there 
are enemies to assail us, and allurements to lead us 
astray, and difficulties to perplex and bewilder, our 
thoughts, and sins to burden our conscience, and dis- 
turb our tranquillity, and many evils to remind us that 
we are still in a state of trial, and must still expect to 
have much to do, and much to suffer. Even here, 
however, amidst all that bedims our views, impairs our 
comfort, and endangers our well-being, we are permit- 
ted to see the salvation prepared for us, and conferred 
upon us, in such a light as fully to satisfy our minds of 
its infinite excellence, and its unbounded sufficiency. 
And the true penitent who, when he is first roused to 
a conviction of his sin and misery, and thinks of little 
else man the ruin which is about to overwhelm him, 
appropriately exclaims, "Lord save me, else I perish," 
may, with still more propriety, after the first agitations 
of his spirits are soothed, and he has considered more 



BER. 16. THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. 



339 



maturely all the extent of deliverance that he needs, all 
the felicity of which his nature is capable, and all the 
provision which God, in the riches of his grace and wis- 
dom, has made for securing both the one and the 
other, send up the fervent prayer, and with it the prof- 
fer of his undoubting confidence, " Save me, O Lord, 
and I shall be saved." 

He who has turned to the Lord by penitence and 
prayer, who goes to him by the pathway that he has 
marked out and consecrated, and beseeches him for all 
that is agreeable to divinity to give, and necessary for 
humanity to receive for its recovery and happiness, 
may expect a salvation to whose value no limits can be 
affixed, either by the reason or the imagination of man. 
It is incomparably more important and precious than 
any salvation that can be wrought out for his bodily 
frame, or for his outward estate : it embraces the inter- 
ests of his never-dying soul, and affects his destinies in 
the world of righteous retribution — rescuing the one 
from the thraldom of guilt and moral pollution, and 
shedding upon the other the light and the glories of an 
endless life. It has enstamped upon it the features of 
truth and certainty; it is not a mere picture of the 
fancy, which, when grasped at by the sinner, mocks his 
aim and vanishes away, but a real substance which he 
csn lay hold of, and appropriate, and feel to be the 
very thing which he desired ; and it is not what may 
be given or withheld according to the suggestions of 
humor and caprice, but the subject of God's promise, 
and the purchase of Christ's blood, and therefore as 
gurejy to be bestowed as there are honor and veracity in 
the divine character. It is complete ; — affording the 
sinner not a partial, but a total, relief — not conveying 
to him some blessings, but every blessing with which 
his nature and condition are suscep'tible — not marring 
his happiness by leaving some spiritual malady unrem- 
edied, or some spiritual want unsupplied, but providing 
liberally, and skilfully, and minutely, for the perfect 
cure of all the diseases with which he is afflicted, and 



340 



THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. SER. 16. 



for the perfect relief of all the necessities with which he 
is burdened, so that he is redeemed from the endur- 
ance of every evil, and blessed with the enjoyment of 
every good, either in present experience, or in future 
and secure reversion. And, moreover, it is permanent ; 
not to be possessed for a limited period, and then per- 
haps wrested from him, as that to which his title is 
doubtful, or which violence may take away, but to be 
held by a tenure which the creature cannot, and which 
the Creator will not dissolve. It is God, holy and 
true, who has given it to him, and called him to be a 
partaker of it ; and " the gifts and callings of God are 
without repentance." It implies deliverance from the 
condemning sentence of the law ; and those who are 
thus justified, we are assured, " can never come into 
condemnation." It implies exemption from the power 
of sin ; and sin, we are told, shall " no more have do- 
minion" over such as divine grace has rescued from its 
captivity. It implies restoration to the favor of God ; 
and to all who are admitted to this privilege, its Author 
certifies that, according to the terms of the sure and 
well-ordered covenant, " his mercy and his kindness 
to them will be everlasting." It implies redemption from 
death and the grave ; and it is proclaimed to every one 
who is to be thus redeemed, that " the grave shall be 
destroyed, and that death shall be swallowed up in vic- 
tory." In fine, it implies admission into the heavenly 
world ; and it is recorded in that word which is inspired 
to support our faith, and to animate our hopes, that they 
who enter that happy region shall " go out of it no more 
forever," that the light which there shines upon them 
shall never be extinguished, that the life which there 
animates them shall never come to an end, that the 
crown of glory which there encircles their heads, is " a 
crown of glory that* fadeth not away." 

Such are the characteristic properties of that salva- 
tion which the true penitent has in* his eye, when he 
puts forth the petition in the text. Its intrinsic worth, 
and the attributes of Him from whom he expects to 



SER. 16 THE PENITENT'S PRATER. 341 



receive it, give earnestness and energy to the prayer 
which he prefers for it. And this is his consolation 
amidst the sins and the sorrows which prompt his appli- 
cation, and this is his encouragement to make the request 
known to God, and to urge it before his throne, that 
" asking he shall receive, seeking he shall find, knock- 
ing it shall be opened to him." The same power 
which quickens him into penitence, and suggests the 
believing supplication in which that penitence ascends 
to heaven, secures for it a gracious reception, and 
brings down an answer in peace. And he almost speaks 
the language of piety and experience combined, when 
he says, in the language of the prophet, " Save me, O 
Lord, and I shall be saved." 

Now, my friends, let me ask you if you have ever 
preferred this petition. If you have, then yours is the 
character in which the Lord delights, yours the prayers 
which he has promised. to answer, and for you all the 
privileges of his table are provided. But if not, it must 
be concluded that repentance is a stranger to your minds 
— that you have not seen the evil of your ways — that 
you are not afraid or distressed on account of your 
transgressions — or that you are indifferent alike to the 
consequences of guilt, and to the blessings of salvation. 
And if you are thus impenitent, you are unfit for the 
table of the Lord, where are exhibited the memorials 
of those sufferings which Christ endured to redeem you 
from your iniquities. It is not our prerogative to see 
into the heart, and we cannot prevent you from pro- 
faning the ordinance, and injuring your own souls. 
But we can warn you of the sinfulness and the danger 
of your conduct ; and this warning we now give you, 
beseeching you to remember that God's all-seeing eye 
is upon you — that if there be any truth in the Bible, 
and any worth in the communion service, you are pro- 
voking him to anger which may not soon be turned 
away — that though admitted to a participation of the 
memorials of that sacrifice which taketh away the sin 
of the world, your sins remain upon your head, — and 
**29 



342 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 

that persevering in impenitence and unbelief, there will 
be no admission for you when you die, into the kingdom 
of heaven. Repent, therefore, and believe the gospel. 
Think upon your ways which have not been good ; and 
turn unto the Lord, crying to him in the language and 
in the spirit of the penitent, " Save me, O God, and I 
shall be saved." 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 



My friends, the solemn service of communion is now 
concluded. And it surely becomes you to reflect on 
the conduct you have maintained, and on the experi- 
ence you have had, as partakers of the Lord's Supper. 
You may, perhaps, imagine, that, the service being over, 
your duty is done, and any farther anxiety or trouble is 
unnecessary. But in this you are mistaken — and the 
mistake which you commit is one into which those who 
feel rightly, and think seriously, on the subject of re- 
ligion, will not be apt to fall, or at least are not likely 
to continue. It is possible, on the one hand, that your 
mode of communicating was worthy — that you did it in 
faith and love, with grateful affections, and with holy 
dispositions — and that you thus honored the Saviour 
whom you professed to remember. I hope and trust 
that this was the case with many of you. And is it not 
proper that you should be sensible of it, so that you may 
not only enjoy the " testimony of a good conscience," 
but perceive the obligations under which you lie to that 
God who so prepared and guided you, and render to 
him that tribute of thanksgiving which you owe him for 
the influences of his grace ? It is possible, on the other 
hand, that you have not partaken worthily of the memo- 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 343 



rials of Christ's death — that you came to the ordinance 
without the requisite meetness — that you were actuated 
by improper motives — and that you profaned the service, 
by a worldly and unsanctified spirit. Then, surely, 
it is of the highest moment that you should know this, in 
order that you may see the guilt you have contracted, and 
the danger to which you are exposed — that you may re- 
pent of you sin, and apply for its forgiveness — and that, 
in future, you may be more diligent in using the means of 
preparation, and more devout and spiritual in your at- 
tendance at the table of the Lord. Nay, but even 
though, by the grace of God, you have " kept the feast 
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth," and 
though you have reason to be thankful that you were 
enabled to present your offering with " a pure heart 
and with faith unfeigned," yet is there not reason to 
believe that sins and imperfections mingled with your 
service ? And should not you study to become ac- 
quainted with the defects which have thus adhered to 
you amidst your best endeavors and your warmest 
piety, that you may see the necessity of being clothed 
at all times with the grace of humility — of still cleaving 
close to that Redeemer, without whom your purest ob- 
servances cannot be accepted — and of asking, with 
more earnestness than ever, the cleansing influences of 
the Spirit of God ? 

But we alluded not only to the conduct you may 
have maintained — we also referred to the experience 
you may have had. You may have been comforted 
and benefitted by engaging in the ordinance of the 
Supper. Your doubts may have been removed — your 
fears may have been dispelled — your mourning may 
have been turned into joy — your faith may have been 
confirmed — your hope may have been enlivened — and 
you may have abundant reason to say, " It has indeed 
been a good thing for us to draw near to God. He 
has not only brought us to his banqueting house, but 
his banner over us has been love. We have tasted 
that he is gracious." Is this what you have in any 



344 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 

measure felt ? And would you, or can you, think of it 
no longer than during the short season of communion ? 
O no ; you must see it to be your duty, and it cannot 
fail to be your inclination and your pleasure, to recal 
to your fondest recollection those tokens of the divine 
mercy in which your hearts have been permitted to re- 
joice, that thus the flame of gratitude may be kindled 
in your souls — that you may be encouraged in time to 
come to wait upon the Lord in his sanctuary and at his 
table — that you may bear a willing testimony to the 
goodness which he manifests to his people — and that 
you may furnish yourselves with the most persuasive of 
all arguments, and the most endearing of all motives, 
for loving him with increased affection, and serving him 
with redoubled zeal. 

But it may be that your experience has been the very 
reverse of what we have now supposed — that you have 
been conscious of enjoying no satisfaction, and of de- 
riving no advantage, from the exercises of communion 
— that the darkness which overshadowed your views 
has not been dissipated — that your tears of sorrow have 
not been wiped away — that no word of peace has been 
spoken to your troubled mind — that the hopes of corn- 
fort and delight which you had cherished have been 
sadly disappointed, and that you have reason to lament 
an absent Saviour and an absent God. Well, my 
friends, and can it be right that you should be insensi- 
ble to all this, and that you should forget it all? Or 
rather, should not it be the subject of your deep and 
solemn meditation ? And while you mourn over the 
melancholy fact, should not you be anxious to search 
into its cause, to discover why it is that God has been 
contending with you and hiding his face from you, to 
ascertain whether it has been owing to your extravagant 
expectations, or to mistaken views of religion, or to the 
want of due preparation, or to some defect in your 
faith, or in your humility, or in your prayers, that you 
have not found him whom you were seeking, and have 
come away disconsolate from the Lord's table ? Should 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 345 



not you be anxious to know these things, that you may 
not be tempted to " charge God foolishly," that you 
may become acquainted with those failings which most 
easily beset you, that you may put away from you the 
evil thing which has poisoned your " cup of blessing," 
and that you may see more clearly how you ought to 
walk, so as to please God and to have your joy full, 
when you approach him again in the commemoration 
of your Saviour's death ? 

There is another circumstance which may have 
marked your experience, and of which it would be un- 
safe for you to remain ignorant. You may have had 
such feelings as would lead you to conclude that all is 
well, and to give God thanks ; whereas, if strictly in- 
vestigated, this may be found little better than a delu- 
sion. The outward service itself is so solemn as to 
impress almost any mind that is even but contemplating 
it at a distance ; and you may have mistaken the 
solemnity derived from the sacredness of the external 
scene for the workings of genuine piety. The suffer- 
ings of Christ have been represented to you by the 
most affecting symbols, and perhaps described to you 
in the most pathetic language, and you may have con- 
sidered the emotions of natural sensibility, and of natu- 
ral tendency excited by these as satisfactory indications 
of love to the Saviour, and of an interest in his death, 
and of sorrow for the sins which brought him to the 
cross. The comforts of the gospel have been unfolded 
to you, and its hopes have been set before you in all 
the richness, and in all the confidence which they de- 
rive from the death and resurrection and promises of 
the second coming of the Son of God ; and without 
reflecting on the inseparable connexion between char- 
acter and privilege, you may have been consoling your 
hearts with truths to which you have no real attach- 
ment, and of which you have never felt the sanc- 
tifying influence ; you may have been appropriating to 
yourselves assurances of pardon and of salvation which 
could only be intended for persons of far different prin- 



346 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 

ciples, and of far different conduct ; and you may have 
been rejoicing in the prospect of that heavenly happi- 
ness for which you are not prepared, and into which, 
while you continue what you are, you can never enter. 
You may have been like those who listen with profound 
attention and lively interest to an eloquent preacher, 
and think themselves profited by his discourse, though 
it has been to them nothing more than " as a very lovely 
song of one who hath a pleasant voice, and can play well 
on an instrument." Or you may have resembled some 
who, though walking daily without God in their thoughts, 
and without holiness in their lives, yet, because they 
have been soothed into tranquillity, or elevated into 
rapture, by a fine piece of sacred music, have regarded 
it as at once the proof and the auxiliary of their devo- 
tion. And is this a deception which you would wish 
to practise on yourselves, or in which it is consistent 
with your best interests to remain ? No, surely : con- 
vinced that you are liable to it, you will be anxious to 
discover and to avoid it ; to know how far it is holding 
its mischievous dominion over you ; and to distinguish 
between the operation of spiritual views and Christian 
feelings, and those affections of the animal nature, 
and those workings of a barren sentimentality, and 
that presumptuous confidence in your well-being which 
have no alliance with true religion, while they are 
perfectly at one with the carnal mind, which is " en- 
mity against God." 

I have to mention still another circumstance which 
may perhaps have distinguished your experience on this 
occasion. Some of you may have partaken of the or- 
dinance without any consciousness of attention to its 
meaning, and without any lively sense of the truths and 
the blessings which it represents — without any desire or 
any aversion, any hope or any fear, any comfort or any 
uneasiness, any joy or any sorrow — allowing it to glide 
over your minds with perfect calmness — and to make 
no impression and to leave none that is worthy of a 
moment's recollection. Such a state of insensibility, I 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 347 

need not tell you, betokens much that is sinful, and 
much that is perilous. No state, indeed, can easily 
partake more, either of the one or of the other. And 
unquestionably it is of high importance that you detect 
insensibility, if it has really existed — that you ascertain 
in what degree you have been indifferent to the spirit of 
your Saviour's last injunction, and dead to the riches 
and the glory of that event which it commemorates — to 
all the consolations which it imparts, and to all the 
hopes which it inspires. 

I have stated these things, my friends, for your seri- 
ous consideration. I have not, indeed, stated all the 
possible features of your conduct, nor all the possible 
incidents of your experience, nor all the various modi- 
fications and degrees of which these are susceptible. 
But I have stated enough to show you the importance 
and necessity of ascertaining what you have really done 3 
and how you have really felt, at the table of the Lord s 
and these things you must be desirous to ascertain, un- 
less you are prepared to say that your religious deport- 
ment and your spiritual condition are matters of less 
moment than the every-day occurrences of life — and 
that, in whatever light they may appear in the eye of 
God, the knowledge of them need not be to you a sub- 
ject of any anxiety or concern. — Now that your knowl- 
edge of them may be certain and accurate and com- 
plete, it is obviously requisite that you examine your- 
selves — that you look back with a searching eye on the 
part you have acted — that you reflect minutely and ma- 
turely on the thoughts which have passed through your 
minds, and on the feelings which have been awakened 
and cherished in your hearts. Conduct your inquiry 
with serious intentions, with godly jealousy, with strict 
impartiality, with constant and humble reference to your 
Bible, and with prayer to God for the enlightening and 
heart-searching influences of his Holy Spirit. And let 
your determination be fixed, that whatever be the result 
of this retrospect, you will act according to it, — that 
while you humbly and gratefully appropriate all the 



348 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 

comfort of which it may be productive, you will, at the 
same time, study to supply all the defects which it may 
point out, and repent of all the sins with which it may 
charge you, and cultivate the graces of Christianity, 
with all the renovated zeal and vigor to which it may 
be the means of calling and urging you. And thus the 
exercise of self-examination, in which I am now ex- 
horting you to engage, will, by the blessing of God, 
prove instrumental not only in making you more worthy 
as communicants on every coming opportunity that may 
be afforded you of remembering the Saviour in the or- 
dinance of the Supper, but also in improving you as to 
the whole of your Christian character, in conducting 
you along the path of duty, and in preparing you for 
the joy of your Lord. 

And this leads me to offer you a few exhortations 
respecting the deportment which it will become you to 
observe, and to exhibit in the path of life. That, of 
course, must bear a direct reference to what you have 
done and to what you have witnessed at a communion 
table. There ought, unquestionably, to be a strict and 
evident correspondence between the two. This is what 
is to be expected in the judgment of propriety, in the 
judgment of your Christian brethren, and in the judg- 
ment of the world itself. And if you do not realize 
these expectations, you demonstrate that your profes- 
sions at the Lord's table were not sincere, and that, 
so far as you are concerned, the Lord's Supper is not 
a means of improvement — and thus you not only ex- 
pose your own inconsistency and endanger your own 
souls, but do what in you lies to discredit the ordinance 
of communion, and to injure the authority and the 
influence of religion among your fellow-men. Far be 
such unhallowed conduct from you, my friends : but 
study to walk worthy of the profession you have made, 
and of the privilege you have enjoyed ; and at every 
step you take in life, call to your remembrance the 
solemnity, and the import, and the lessons, of this 
day's service. 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 349 

You have declared your faith in the blood of atone- 
ment. You have not merely commemorated the death 
of Christ, but intimated, in the most impressive man- 
ner, your entire dependance upon the merits of that 
death for taking away your sins, and reconciling you to 
God, and securing you a title to heaven. See, then, 
that you do not abandon this foundation of your hope. 
Continue to look to the great sacrifice which your High 
Priest offered upon Calvary for the blessings of salva- 
tion. And instead of listening to the suggestions of 
pride, or to the dictates of a false philosophy, or to the 
scorn of an unthinking and ungodly world, which would 
tell you to be ashamed of your Redeemer's cross, and 
to count it foolishness, let it be the object of your cor- 
dial and your stedfast attachment : be bold to avow 
your adherence to it as your glory and your joy; and 
never cease to confess Him who suffered on it as your 
only Saviour and your only Lord. 

At the Lord's table you have seen the evil of sin — 
you have seen its evil to be incalculable and infinite : 
for you have contemplated the sufferings of Christ as 
endured to take away sin ; and had not its intrinsic tur- 
pitude and its miserable consequences been inconceiva- 
bly great — had it not been thus boundlessly hateful and 
destructive in the estimation of God himself, — we can 
not suppose that he would have required the incarna- 
tion and the death of his own beloved Son for its expi- 
ation. Now, having had this striking view of the odious 
nature and ruinous effects of sin, let it be the object of 
your deep and unqualified and growing detestation. 
Fly from its pollutions as from a deadly pestilence. 
Give not up to its dominion any one of your affections- 
Deny yourselves resolutely to all the allurements by 
which it would seduce you from your Saviour and your 
God. Pray without ceasing for that Spirit who is 
promised to renew your hearts, and to sanctify you 
wholly. And amidst all the temptations that will beset 
you as you travel along the path of life, still look to sin 
as it appears in the light of the cross, that you may see 
30 



350 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 

what a bitter and pernicious thing it is, — that you may 
uever be reconciled to the commission of it — that you 
may behold it stripped of all its blandishments and dis- 
guises — that you may shudder at the very thought of 
crucifying the Lord of glory afresh, and putting him to 
an open shame. 

At the Lord's table you have been favored with an 
astonishing display of the love of God. God was there 
acknowledged as taking compassion on you in your 
sinful and ruined stale, and as giving up his only be- 
gotten Son for your eternal redemption. Such love as 
this " passes all understanding" and demands from you 
every return that you can possibly make to him by 
whom it has been manifested. It requires not merely 
that you shall indulge in admiration — or that your hearts 
shall be warmed with gratitude — or that you shall make 
professions of reciprocal affection. All these are due ; 
but they are not sufficient. If the love of God which 
you have been contemplating at the Lord's table have 
its full and proper effect, it will constrain you to love 
him who has " first loved you," and to love him with 
all your heart and with all your soul. Now " this is the 
love of God, that ye keep his commandments." Hav- 
ing that sentiment shed abroad in your hearts by the 
power of the Holy Ghost, and cherished by the re- 
membrances and the meditations of a communion ser- 
vice, see that it determine you to do those things which 
are pleasing to your God and Redeemer, to study an 
universal conformity to his will, to be " fruitful in every 
good word and work." 

At the Lord's table you have been contemplating 
Christ as a compassionate as well as a powerful Saviour, 
who is touched with a feeling of your infirmities, and is 
both able and willing to supply all your spiritual wants. 
Carry this view of him with you into the world. There 
you are to meet with trials, and difficulties, and dis- 
tresses of various kinds ; but amidst them all let it be 
your constant care and your constant practice to have 
recourse to Hjg&, to trust in his grace, to lean upon his 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 351 



strength, to apply for his direction, and to drink of those 
waters of consolation which he has provided for the re- 
freshment and the life of his people. 

At the table of the Lord you have seen Christ as 
the conqueror of death, and have had your views di- 
rected to his second coming. O yes, my friends, by 
that very death, with all its accompaniments of igno- 
miny and of pain, which you have been showing forth, 
Christ overcame death — he plucked out its sting — he 
disarmed it of its terrors — he " abolished" it — and se- 
cured a glorious resurrection and everlasting life to all 
who believe in his name. Bear about with you, there- 
fore, " the dying of the Lord Jesus," so that not only 
his " life may be manifest in your mortal bodies," but 
that you may be fearless in encountering the last enemy, 
and be made more than conquerors, through him that 
hath loved you." Interesting, indeed, and awful is 
that period when your bodies shall return to the dust 
from which they were taken, and your spirits unto God 
who gave them. And how many are there who, through 
fear of that solemn event, are " all their lifetime subject 
to bondage !" But, believing communicants, " let not 
your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." 
He whose crucifixion you have been keeping in remem- 
brance, is now reigning in heaven. He is saying to 
you, " I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and, behold ! 
I am alive forevermore, and have the keys of hell and 
of death." He requires you to commemorate his 
death, in the anticipation of his coming the second 
time, to deliver you from the dishonors of the grave, 
and to raise you to the enjoyment of eternal life. And, 
you cannot doubt that he if faithful and mighty to ac- 
complish all the promises in which he bids you now re- 
joice. Look forward, then, to the hour of dissolution 
with the hope which has been kindled at the table of 
communion, and which will enlighten the gloom which 
nature and guilt have spread over the grave'; and let this 
blessed ordinance encourage you to pray with more 
fervor, and to labor with more diligence, that you may 



352 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 

be counted worthy as " children of the resurrection," 
and as heirs of immortality. 

I am unwilling to detain you longer, my friends, but 
I cannot conclude without addressing a few words, in par- 
ticular, to those who have for the first time remembered 
Christ at a communion table. The step which you have 
taken, my young friends,is most important. Your situation 
is truly interesting. And while we offer up our earnest 
prayers to God in your behalf, we would speak to you 
the word of affectionate counsel and exhortation. You 
have been admitted to the holy ordinance of the supper, 
and I trust you have engaged in it from worthy motives, 
and with suitable dispositions. But, O remember that 
such a service, however becoming in itself, and with 
whatever decency you have observed it, is of no avail, 
if your heart and character be not at the same time 
adorned with the substantial graces of Christianity. 
You may have the credit of a good profession — every 
Sabbath may find you in the house of God, and every 
communion after this at the table of the Lord— and of 
your knowledge of the Scriptures we may have no 
doubt, and of your reputation we may be able to say 
nothing that is unfavorable, yet if, with all this, you be 
not conscious of a renewed mind, and if you be not 
cherishing the spirit of real personal religion, every 
thing that you have of outward sanctity is but as 
" sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." Let me be- 
seech you, then, not to rest satisfied with the mere 
name and appearance of communicants. This will 
never do in the sight of God, and it will never carry 
you to heaven. Be it your great concern to be Chris- 
tians in deed and in truth— to experience the power of 
the gospel — to possess in reality that faith, and love, 
and penitence, and purity which you were presumed to 
have when you were permitted to " take the cup of sal- 
vation into your hand, and to call on the name of the 
Lord." Beware of acting inconsistently with the char- 
acter you have assumed, and the vows that you have 
made. Be steady in your attachment to the great and 



EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 353 



merciful Redeemer. Persevere in the path of right- 
eousness in which he has commanded, and you your- 
selves have engaged to walk. And show, by the ex- 
cellence of your whole deportment, that you " have 
been with Jesus," and that you have learned of Him 
who was "holy, and harmless, and undefiled, and sep- 
arate from sinners." In the world to which you are 
now to return, you will meet with many trials and 
temptations. O it is a vain and wicked, a deceitful and 
ensnaring world ; and if you surrender yourselves to its 
dominion, or conform to its maxims and its manners, it 
will speedily efface every serious impression from your 
minds, and carry you back to the pollutions from which 
you had escaped, and make your last state worse than 
the first. Fly, then, from those scenes of vain amuse- 
ment — taste not of those unhallowed pleasures — be not 
entangled by those sordid pursuits by which it would 
steal away your affections from him who loved you to 
the death, and make you forfeit the glories of an im- 
mortal crown. Say not that this is hard doctrine : it is 
a doctrine whose truth you this day acknowledged, in 
the exercise of faith and gratitude, when you drank the 
memorial of that blood, which was shed upon the cross 
to redeem you from the power, and the conversation, 
and the bondage of this present evil world. Listen not 
to those who will tell you that this is melancholy advice 
— that it is unsuitable to your period of life — that you 
need not be afraid to mingle, as they do, in all the gai- 
eties of fashion, and, like them, to forget your cares and 
your sorrows for a season in the gratifications of sense 
and of time. They who address to you such delusive 
language feel not for your spiritual well-being — they 
have learned nothing in the school of Christ — they have 
never been at the foot of the cross — they are themselves 
walking " in the broad way that leadeth to destruction," 
and would have you to be the companions of their guilt 
and of their ruin. But from counsel and examples like 
theirs, you must turn away ; and to all their solicitations 
you may reply, by asking if they will die for you, and 
*30 



354 EXHORTATION AFTER THE COMMUNION. 



if they will answer for you on the judgment of the great 
day. No, my young friends, listen not to them — but 
listen to your Saviour, who says, " love not the world," 
and who moreover calls you " to glory and to virtue." 
Consider what he suffered to raise your views and your 
hopes from earth to heaven. And remember all your 
obligations to " set your affections on those things which 
are above, where he now sitteth at the right hand of 
God." Young though you be, yet recollect the short- 
ness and uncertainty of life, and pass through the wil- 
derness as strangers and pilgrims and travellers to a 
better country. Anticipate the hour of your departure. 
Keep eternity constantly in your view. And let the 
prospect of the future, as well as the remembrance of 
the past, make you stedfast in the faith, and diligent in 
the work of the Lord. And, conscious of your own 
weakness, lean upon that Almighty arm of your Re- 
deemer. Pray for the grace that you need. And let 
" the hope which entereth into that within the vail, 
whither the forerunner is for you entered," cheer you 
amidst all the distresses, and animate you amidst all the 
labors of your Christian pilgrimage. 

" Now, unto Him that is able to keep you from fall- 
ing, and to present you faultless before the presence 
of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God. 
our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, 
both now and ever. Amen." 



SERMON XVII. 



SPIRITUAL, DISEASE AND ITS REMEDY. 

JEREMIAH viii. 22. 

"Is there no halm in Gilead? Is there no physician 
there ? Why then is not the health of the daughter 
of my people recovered ? 

These words originally referred to the desolation and 
misery brought by the Chaldean invasion upon the 
Jews, on account of their wickedness and impenitence. 
But they may, with great propriety, be applied to all 
wiiose conduct and circumstances resemble those of the 
degenerate house of Israel. And it is in this applica- 
tion that we intend to consider them. The prophet, 
looking to the sinfulness of his countrymen — to their 
obstinate disobedience — and to the judgments which 
impended over them, exclaimed, " Is there no balm in 
Gilead ? Is there no physician there ? Why then is 
not the health of the daughter of my people recovered ?" 
And well may we put the same question, when, casting 
our eyes around us, we see so many in a state of guilt ; 
perversely and pertinaciously continuing in it, in spite 
of all that has been done for their deliverance, and con- 



t 



356 



SPIRITUAL DISEASE 



SER. 17. 



sequently exposed to the indignation of God, and to 
punishment throughout eternity. 

I. The first thing to which our attention is here 
called, is the melancholy fact that sin prevails. 

Sin is here, as in other places of Scripture, repre- 
sented under the figurative character of a disease. And 
the representation is appropriate and striking ; for sin 
affects the soul much in the same way as disease affects 
the body — producing similar disquietudes, and leading 
to similar consequences. It is a derangement of the 
spiritual frame, by which its functions are impeded, its 
strength enfeebled, its comfort impaired, its proper ends 
counteracted, and its very existence, as a creature 
destined to immortal felicity, endangered or destroyed. 
And every view which can be taken of its nature, and 
extent, and tendency, demonstrates it to be a just cause 
of serious interest and alarm to all who are infected 
with it. 

It is a hereditary disease — not induced by outward or 
accidental circumstances, but entailed upon us as an 
attribute of our fallen nature, and cleaving to us with as 
much tenacity as if it were a part of our original being : 
— -we are " conceived, and shapen, and born in sin." 

It is a pervading disease — not limited to any one 
portion of our constitution, but dwelling in every de- 
partment of it — influencing its intellectual powers, its 
moral dispositions, its sensitive organs : " the whole 
head is sick, and the whole heart faint." 

It is a vital and inveterate disease— r-not touching 
merely the extreme or superficial parts of our system, 
and resisted in its progress by any inherent energies — 
but corrupting and preying upon our inmost soul, and 
so congenial to all that is within, and to all that is around 
us, as to grow with our growth, and strengthen with our 
strength. 

It is a deceitful disease — not always accompanied 
with those violent and decided symptoms which forbid 
us to mistake the nature or disregard the perils of our 
condition — but often assuming that gentle form which 



SER. 17. 



AND ITS REMEDY. 



357 



allays our apprehensions, and flatters us with hopes of 
recovery. 

It is often withal a painful and harassing disease — 
filling us with dissatisfaction and fear and trembling — 
rendering our days gloomy and our nights restless — or 
piercing us with agonies to which we can find neither 
utterance nor relief. 

And, finally, it is a mortal disease — not inflicting 
upon us a momentary pang, and then giving place to 
renovated vigor — but mocking at all human attempts to 
throw it off — sooner or later subduing us by its resist- 
less power — and consigning us to the pains and the ter- 
rors of the second death. 

Now, my friends, this disease of sin more or less 
prevails in every one of us : " There is not a just man 
upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not." All of 
us have it by nature, and all of us have it by practice. 
So that whatever is loathsome, or distressing, or fatal in 
it, must be regarded as attaching to every one of the 
children of men without exception. This is the real and 
unquestionable fact with respect to each one of you now 
hearing me. Whatever be the age at which you have 
arrived — whatever be your rank or condition in life — 
whatever be the opinion which you entertain of your- 
selves — or whatever be the estimation in which you are 
held by others — one and all of you are afflicted with 
the malady of sin. You may exhibit such appearances 
as shall render it a matter of difficulty to detect it; but 
nevertheless, it exists, and operates, and in some shape 
or other manifests itself to the observer's eye. You 
may fondly imagine that, however much it may reign 
in those around you, it has acquired no ascendancy in 
your minds, and that you need to apprehend no danger 
from it — but this is nothing better than a vain delusion, 
and so far from proving that you are without sin, shows 
only that the disease in your case has assumed one of 
its most alarming forms, and that it is taking advantage 
of your insensibility to accomplish your ruin. You may 
impose upon us, and you may impose upon yourselves, 



358 



SPIRITUAL DISEASE 



SER. 17. 



by putting forth, in more than ordinary abundance, the 
tokens of spiritual health ; and yet we must declare, 
for it is a truth asserted by him who knows all things 
and cannot be deceived, that the leprosy of sin is upon 
your souls — that they cannot prosper while it is there 
— and that, if it be not taken away, they must die 
forever. 

Such, my friends, is the fact. But then, are you 
convinced of it ? Do you acknowledge it ? Or if you 
do, are you sincere in the acknowledgment which you 
make ? I fear that there are too many of whom this 
cannot be said with truth. For if they were convinced 
of it, and if they did acknowledge it in sincerity, it is 
impossible that they should speak and act with such in- 
difference as they show to what is so virulent in its na- 
ture, so terrible in its aspect, and so desolating in its 
effects. We should expect to see them as anxious at 
least to get quit of this evil as they always are to get 
quit of those evils which affect their bodily frame or 
their outward condition. Nay, we should naturally ex- 
pect to find them far more solicitous and active in their 
endeavors to be delivered from such a calamity, than 
they could ever be to find deliverance from any tempo- 
ral calamity, however great and however frightful it 
might be. And yet they are not moved by it to any 
serious concern. It does not seem to disturb their 
peace at all. It leads to no anxious inquiry as to the 
means of its mitigation or removal. It calls forth no 
strenuous exertions for that purpose. They regard and 
treat it as if it had no malignity in it, as if it gave them 
no present uneasiness, as if it would be productive of 
no positive or lasting injury. On the contrary, one 
might sometimes suppose, that they mistook it for their 
chief good, that they considered it as conducive alike 
to their honor, their safety, and their happiness, so 
fondly and so perseveringly, do they indulge in every 
species of gratification which can establish its power, or 
contribute to its growth. 



SER. 17. 



AND ITS REMEDY. 



359 



Now, all this is so very unaccountable, it is so passing 
strange that the disease of sin should be universally 
prevalent, — that it should be confessedly and undenia- 
bly so alarming in its symptoms and so destructive in its 
issue, and that the great majority of those who labor 
under it should nevertheless be as contented as if they 
had nothing to fear from its ravages, — that we are 
tempted to impute their conduct to some secret, lurking 
suspicion, of the hopelessness of their case. We might 
be justified in supposing that in their view there is no 
method by which their cure can be effected, that it is 
therefore unnecessary for them to give themselves any 
trouble about the matter, and that their wisest plan is to 
give way to thoughtlessness, and to live on as their 
passions and inclinations may prompt them. But that 
is a hasty conclusion, if they have come to it ; and we 
cannot allow them to rest in it, without endeavoring to 
convince them that they are laboring under a perilous 
delusion. 

II. " Is there no balm in Gilead," no remedy by 
which the disease of sin may be cured ? " Is there no 
physician there," no physician qualified to apply the 
remedy and able to make it effectual ? 

This question is not put by the prophet, as if infor- 
mation were needed and asked. It does not indicate 
any ignorance of that about which the inquiry is made. 
It does not imply the least suspicion or doubt respecting 
the existence, the certainty, and the sufficiency of the 
thing referred to. On the contrary, it is to be consid- 
ered as a peculiarly emphatic mode of affirming what 
it appears to have no knowledge nor assurance of, and 
even as expressing wonder that those whom it concerns 
are not perfectly aware of it as a true doctrine or indis- 
putable fact. It intimates, that where the evil of sin 
continues to prevail, it is not for want of means by 
which it may be thoroughly or effectually taken away, — 
that those who remain subject to it must account for 
that unhappy circumstance in some other way than by 



360 



SPIRITUAL DISEASE 



SER. 17. 



alleging the helplessness of their case — that " there is 
balm in Gilead, and that there is a physician there." 

Why, my friends, the whole purpose of the gospel is 
to proclaim and to illustrate this great truth ; " God has 
so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but have 
everlasting life." Christ is set forth as the great Physician 
of souls. He has been appointed to sustain this character, 
by Him who rules supreme in the world of grace, as in 
the world of nature — who has taken compassion on 
mankind as subject to the malady of sin — and to whom 
the cure of that greatest and sorest evil is as easy, as 
the cure of any malady that can afflict the bodily frame. 
This spiritual Physician has not only come in the name 
of Almighty God, but he has come possessed of all the 
qualifications which are requisite to ensure his complete 
success in every case that can possibly be submitted to 
him. He has wisdom to devise whatever method may 
be necessary, for rescuing the victims whom he has been 
sent to deliver. He has tenderness and compassion to 
induce him to do, and bestow, and suffer all whatever it 
may be, which their circumstances require. He has 
power to conquer every obstacle that would frustrate his 
exertions in their behalf, and to render effectual every 
means that may be employed for their recovery. And 
he has all these attributes in an infinite degree ; so that 
he is competent to heal those in whose instance the 
disease has assumed its most inveterate form, and even 
to call them back from the very gates of the grave. 
His blood, shed on Calvary, as an atonement, is the 
grand and sovereign remedy by which sinners are re- 
stored. And such is its inherent virtue — such is its re- 
sistless efficacy, that sprinkled on the spirit and the con- 
science of him who is farthest gone in the leprosy of sin, 
it is adequate to subdue the strength of the otherwise 
incurable malady, to root it out from the deepest reces- 
ses of his nature, to infuse into him all the elements of 
moral health, and to secure for him an endless as well 
as a happy life. If you read the word of God and give 



SER. 17. AND ITS REMEDY. 



361 



credit to his testimony recorded in it, you will find that 
we have a " Physician" thus gifted beyond measure, 
and " a balm" thus efficacious beyond the possibility of 
failure, provided for us by the mercy of God. And not 
only is this truth exhibited to us in the gospel record, as 
one which we must believe simply because it is there ; 
— it is a truth which has been realized in the expe- 
rience of every age, and which meets our observation 
in the case of all the redeemed in heaven and on earth. 

In the annals of Christianity, we read of many who, 
though sin was preying on their very vitals as a deep- 
seated and mortal distemper, and though they were 
ready to perish, because they had no ability to stay or 
to withstand its progress, yet escaped from its destroying 
power, — felt that it had departed from them, manifested 
all the symptoms of renovated vigor, and rejoiced in the 
active exertion of those faculties which had been para- 
lyzed, and in the return of those comforts and those 
hopes which seemed to have fled from them for ever. 
And they have testified that this happy change was 
wrought in their condition — because there " is balm in 
Gilead, and because there is a physician there." 

Look around you, and behold in every Christian that 
meets your eye, a demonstration of the same important 
fact. They were once pervaded by the plague of sin : 
— it poisoned their hearts — it prostrated their strength- — 
it covered them with moral pollution — it blasted all 
their joys, and it threatened them with eternal death. 
But now, the plague is removed — their heart is made 
whole — their energy is restored — they are adorned with 
the beauties of holiness, and they are ripening for a 
blessed immortality. And to what are we to ascribe 
their altered state ? To what but to this, that " there is 
balm in Gilead, and that there is a physician there." 

And to what is it owing, that in the Paradise above, 
there is a countless multitude who once dwelt in the 
lazar-house of this wretched world, inheriting from their 
progenitors that foul disease which sin introduced into 
the nature of man, vexed with all its painful and loath- 
31 



362 



SPIRITUAL DISEASE 



SER. 17. 



some symptoms, yielding to its encroachments, and nour- 
ishing its virulence, as if it had been their honor and 
their bliss, and amidst the delusive dream that all was 
well with them, sinking down to that perdition in which 
it naturally terminates — to what is it owing, that from 
such a state as this, they are now translated into a re- 
gion, into which " nothing that defileth can enter," of 
which " the inhabitants never say, they are sick, because 
all their sins are forgiven them," where they offend no 
more, and suffer no more, and die no more, but exist in 
undecaying youth, in unfading bloom, in everlasting 
felicity ? To what is this owing but to the immutable 
truth, that " there is balm in Gilead, and that there is a 
physician there ?" 

Yes, my friends, there is a Saviour for the " chief of 
sinners," and he is "able to save them to the very ut- 
termost." There is none whose guilt is so aggravated 
that he cannot cancel it — none whose heart is so pol- 
luted that he cannot cleanse it — none whose danger is 
so imminent that he cannot deliver from it — none whose 
case is so desperate as that he cannot bring it to a favor- 
able issue. And he is as willing, as he is able, to re- 
deem the guilty and the perishing. He has declared 
his readiness to grant redemption to them in its fullest 
measure. He has given proof irresistible of the sincerity 
of his declaration, in the sacrifice of himself which he 
offered upon die cross. And after this marvellous act of 
condescension and love, there cannot be a doubt of his 
earnest, affectionate, longing desire to rescue those on 
whose account he performed it, from the fate to which 
they were doomed, from the destruction and misery to 
which they are exposed. 

But, if Christ be thus able and willing to save sinners, 
why is it that so many are continuing in sin — living un- 
der its dominion, and dying under its curse? Since 
there "is balm in Gilead, and since there is a physician 
there, why is not the health of the daughter of my peo- 
ple recovered ?" And, 



SER. 17. 



AND ITS REMEDY. 



363 



III. This leads me to state and explain some of the 
causes of such a melancholy phenomenon in the history 
of sinful men. 

I. The first that I would mention is, that many sinners 
are insensible to their need of a spiritual physician. 

A man may unconsciously labor under a bodily dis- 
temper, which is making rapid advances, and hastening 
him on to his grave. Others may see it, and lament it, 
and beseech him to attend to it, and to call in medical 
aid before it be too late. But it is all in vain, if he 
himself do not see the dangers of his situation — if he 
imagine symptoms of health where all around perceive 
symptoms of disease — or if any unsoundness which he 
does discover and acknowledge be deemed by him too 
trifling to deserve notice or to excite alarm. Then of 
course, he refuses to put himself under the care of those 
who have skill to cure him ; he will not listen to their 
advice : his case becomes hopeless, and ere long he 
dies. 

Thus it is with thousands infected with the disease of 
sin. It is a sad but indisputable fact, that sin cleaves to 
them as a mortal disease. But we cannot convince 
them of the fact. They shut their eyes against all the 
light by which they might be made aware of the perils 
and the horrors of their condition. They repel every 
argument by which we would convince them that they 
are practising a delusion upon themselves. They palliate 
or explain away all the circumstances by which we 
would prove that guilt does attach to them. And they 
perhaps smile at the anxieties we feel, and at the fears 
we express on their account, as chimerical and vain. 
And amidst so much security, and ease, and self-com- 
placency, what is it to them that there is "balm in 
Gilead, and a physician there ?" And what can it avail that 
we speak of Christ to them as a Saviour, and beseech 
them to have recourse to his grace and power? They 
perceive no attraction in the most interesting exhibitions 
of him that we can lay before them ; no meaning so far 
as they are concerned, in all that we say of his ability to 
heal ; no suitableness in his peculiar qualifications to 



364 



SPIRITUAL DISEASE 



SER. 17. 



what they consider to be their real situation ; no neces- 
sity to take counsel of him, to look to him, or to think 
about him. In such a state of mind we cannot expect 
them to put themselves into the hands of Christ, or to 
submit to the treatment by which he would save them. 
And hence it is that though the healing " balm" is within 
their reach, and though the omnipotent " Physician" is 
ready to administer it, they are as far from safety as if 
every avenue to either were closed. Hence it is that 
all our entreaties are heard by them with indifference, 
or rejected with disdain. Hence it is that they go on to sin 
yet more and more, that every feature of their case as- 
sumes a more frightful complexion, and that they ulti- 
mately perish in their iniquities. O that they were wise ! 
that they would but consider ! that they would open their 
eyes to the light of truth ! that they would cease to flat- 
ter themselves with the thought of peace and safety, 
when destruction is so evidently coming upon them, 
when there will be no means of escaping from it ! May 
the Lord himself bring them speedily and effectually to 
a sense of their danger, and dispose them to give a cor- 
dial welcome, and to lend a delighted ear to the glad 
tidings that there is " balm in Gilead, and that there is 
a physician there." 

2. But, secondly, we may mention as another reason 
why sinners are not saved, or have not their spiritual 
health restored, that there are many who, though 
aware in some measure of the disease of sin, of its in- 
veteracy and of its danger, and not unconvinced of the 
necessity of applying to Him who alone can save them 
from its power and consequences, are yet indisposed 
from doing so, by carelessness, or procrastination, or 
dislike to the remedies which they know will be pre- 
scribed. 

A person laboring under a bodily distemper may be 
sensible of it — he may sincerely wish to have it re- 
moved — he may know the individual who proposes to 
accomplish his cure, and believe him to be adequate to 
the task, and he may be resolved to be at some time or 
other indebted to his skill for recovery ; and yet through 



SER. 17. 



AND ITS REMEDY. 



365 



the influence of an easy temper, from the habit of de- 
laying what is urgent and important, and by reason of 
his aversion to the bitter draught that he must take, to 
the painful operation that he must undergo, to the many 
sacrifices of self-indulgence to which he must neces- 
sarily submit, he neglects to send for the physician, and 
to follow his needful advice, and so he falls into the 
grave. 

And thus it is with a multitude of sinners. They 
feel and they admit that sin prevails in them, — that it is 
consuming the life's blood of their souls, — that if it be 
not taken away it must terminate in a fatal result. 
They allow that Christ is divinely appointed, and that 
he is every way qualified to accomplish their deliver- 
ance. And it is their wish and their purpose to com- 
mit themselves to his care, that he may cleanse them, 
and heal them, and bid them live. But then there is a 
listlessness about them which prevents their minds from 
yielding freely, and fully, and eagerly, to the impres- 
sions that have been produced by a view of their danger 
on the one hand, and of the means of escape on the 
other. That which has been emphatically called the 
" thief of time," besets and deludes them, and day after 
day, and year after year steals on, leaving them con- 
tented with knowing how diseased they are, and how 
they can be healed, and determined withal to embrace 
a convenient season for resorting to the mercy and the 
might of the Redeemer. Thus they linger on in sin and 
in peril, because they cannot bring themselves to submit 
to all that, in his wisdom, he must require them to do 
and to become — to renounce the gratifications in which 
they have been fondly delighting — to mortify their in- 
ordinate affections, — to "cutoff a right hand or to pluck 
out a right eye," — to be no longer slothful, but to be 
active in the exercises of piety and in the labors of right- 
eousness, — and to have their whole system under such 
strict government, and such unceasing control, as that 
they shall never wilfully give way to a corrupt inclina- 
tion, and never wilfully violate a divine commandment. 
*31 



366 



SPIRITUAL DISEASE 



SER, 17. 



And thus it happens that though they are satisfied that 
there is " no soundness in them, and though they have 
learned that " there is balm in Gilead, and that there is 
a physician there," the health of their souls is not " re- 
covered they perversely continue to feed the disease 
which, in its simplest form, is sufficient to destroy them; 
every successive moment that they spend without apply- 
ing to Christ comes to them with accumulated hazard ; 
the very sup ineness and unconcern which at first kept 
them away from him, increase with the growing perils 
of their condition, and before they have bestirred them- 
selves to do what should never have been left undone, 
the mortal agony arrives, and then for them there is " no 
balm in Gilead, and no physician there." 

O let me entreat such of you as recognise, in the mir- 
ror I have now held up a true resemblance of yourselves, 
to reflect seriously on what you are, and on what must 
befal you, if you persist in such a course. It is an awful 
tiling to die ; but it is infinitely more awful to die in your 
sins ; and that you may avoid that dread consummation, 
be entreated to flee to Christ, by whom, and by whom 
alone, it can be surely and effectually averted. Act 
upon your convictions of your helplessness as sinners, 
and of the necessity of divine aid — act upon these con- 
victions with firmness and decision — give energy to 
your purpose by remembering that in doing so is in- 
volved not merely your present comfort, but your ever- 
lasting welfare. Do not allow yourselves to be cheated 
into delay : The disease of sin, like may bodily diseases, 
may prove fatal in a moment ; and, even though no such 
sudden termination should take place, yet, the longer 
you procrastinate, and the more opportunities you allow 
to pass unimproved, the more disinclined will you be to 
seek after Christ and the more difficult will you find it 
to surrender yourselves to his guidance. Nor be deter- 
red or discouraged by the nature of his prescriptions. 
Enough for you, who must otherwise die eternally, to 
know, that the remedy which he provides is effectual 
— that he demands nothing from you but what it is your 
duty and your interest to render cheerfully — that sup- 



SER. 17. 



AND ITS REMEDY. 



367 



port, and comfort, and encouragement, will accompany 
it, in adequate supply and in abundant measure — that 
your spiritual health being recovered, you will have am- 
ple recompense in its returning joys, for all that you 
may have suffered, or sacrificed in the pursuit — and 
that you will at length be admitted where sin cannot en- 
ter, and where, amidst the unfettered and delighted 
employment of the powers which were rescued from its 
deadly grasp, it will be one of your gladdest and most 
grateful recollections, that there was " balm in Gilead, 
and that there was a physician there." 

3. Once more, sinners are not saved, or have not 
their spiritual health recovered, because they will not 
take the remedy simply and submissively as it is admin- 
istered by Christ. 

A man who is afflicted with bodily disease may be 
quite sensible that his danger is great, and he may call 
in a physician in whom he confides, and he may ask 
him to prescribe for him. But if he will follow only a 
part of the advice that is given — if he insist upon prac- 
tising at the same time upon himself — if, from ignorance 
or pride, or perversity, or caprice, he be determined to 
have a large share in the merit of any cure that may be 
effected — his disease may be made worse instead of be- 
ing mitigated, and its fatal issue may be rendered 
speedier and more certain, instead of being retarded or 
averted. 

In like manner, how many are there laboring under 
the disease of sin, who feel something like a sincere and 
anxious desire to be delivered from it, and who apply 
to Christ for his assistance in accomplishing the object 
of their wishes ; but who will not submit to his skill nor 
receive his help, in the way he is pleased to exercise the 
one, and to impart the other ! They put their own igno- 
rance on a level with his wisdom — their own weakness 
with his power — their own depravity with his merit. 
And thus they defeat the purpose of all that he offers 
to do for them. They counteract his saving work. 
They render fruitless the remedies that he prescribes. 



36S 



SPIRITUAL DISEASE. 



SER. 17. 



They disobey, and dishonor, and provoke him. In the 
mean time sin retains its deadly hold of their heart, and 
grows and strengthens in its influence, as they proceed 
in their infatuated course : and, at last, though the heal- 
ing " balm" is beside them, and though the great " Phy- 
sician" seems to be their refuge and their hope, they 
languish, and die, and pass from this world to " lift up 
their eyes in hell, being in torment." 

O let not such infatuation impose upon any of you, 
and prevent you from receiving that relief which you 
so absolutely need, and which you profess so earnest a 
desire to obtain. Give yourselves up implicitly to the 
dictates of Christ. He is able to cure you ; and he 
neither needs your help, nor will he accept of it. He 
must have tbe entire honor of your deliverance, or he 
will do nothing for you at all. Trust in him as one who 
both can and will make you whole — who alone is in- 
vested with the power of bestowing upon you that ines- 
timable and necessary blessing — and in whose hands 
you are sure of being restored to spiritual health here, 
and of being raised to immortal life hereafter. And 
being thus indebted to him for salvation from the foul- 
est calamity that can distress or deform or degrade 
your nature, see that you devote your renovated pow- 
ers, your purified affections, your " whole soul, body, 
and spirit," to his service and praise. And when you 
behold others still afflicted with it, and either ignorant 
or careless of the means by which they may be rescued 
from it, take pity on them as they are thus " lying in 
their blood," and bear your practical testimony, and 
labor to draw their earnest attention, to this blessed 
truth, that their case is not hopeless, unless they them- 
selves make it so, for that you have found it realized in 
your happy experience, that "there is balm in Gilead, 
and that there is a physician there." 



SERMON XVIII. 



CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 

PSALM xxxix. 9. 

" / was dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou 
didst it." 

When David composed this Psalm, he was evidently- 
laboring under some heavy affliction. What that was, 
we are not informed. But whatever it may have been, 
it seems to have borne hard upon his spirit ; for he says 
respecting it, " I am consumed by the blow of thine 
hand." Nevertheless, he did not murmur or complain 
under the pressure of his distress. He thought of the 
character, and the providence, and the purposes of that 
great Being, to whose appointment he traced it, and 
under whose government he suffered. And influenced 
by the considerations which these suggested, as well as 
upheld by the grace for which he earnestly prayed, he 
repressed every mutinous feeling, and cherished the 
sentiments, and uttered the language, of a becoming 
resignation. He looked up to God and said "I was 
dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou didst it." 

This was the conduct of David. But it is to be 
feared that there are many of us, who, though placed 



370 



CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. SER. 18. 



in his circumstances, do not imitate his example ; that 
with some, the virtue which he thus exhibited is not 
maintained at all ; and that with others, it is maintained 
but partially and reluctantly ; that where the words of 
impatience are restrained from considerations of de- 
cency, the feeling of it is allowed to predominate ; and 
that even where there is a cordial desire, and an earn- 
est endeavor, to submit to the will of God, this submis- 
sion is not practised with that cheerfulness, nor attended 
with that satisfaction which every true Christian will be 
anxious to experience. 

To provide against this evil, there are two things that 
must be principally attended to. In the first place we 
must study to be the real disciples of Christ. For if 
we be only nominally so, we are destitute of those 
principles, without which, we can neither see the 
reasonableness, nor feel the workings of resignation. 
This grace has, on that supposition, nothing either to 
produce or to support it in our hearts. When all goes 
well with us, we may talk about it, and inculcate it upon 
others, and blame or pity those by whom it is not dis- 
played. But when the day of our own probation 
comes, we have nothing to hold by or lean upon : we 
have no sense of an interest in the favor of Him by 
whom we are tried, no habitual confidence in the wis- 
dom and mercy of his dealings with us, no well ground- 
ed expectation of being compensated for the posses- 
sions and enjoyments of which we are deprived ; and 
therefore, we cannot freely or sincerely say that we are 
resigned, because the Lord has done it. And, in the 
second place, if we be the real disciples of Christ, we 
must have our minds turned to those doctrines, and 
habituated to those exercises of religion, which may be 
considered as affording the appropriate grounds of sub- 
mission amidst the calamities of life. Unless we have 
frequent recourse to these — unless we live under their 
perpetual influence — unless we wear them constantly 
as defensive armor against the adversities by which we 
are assailed — it is obvious that when these come upon 



SER. 18. CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 



371 



us, as they often do, unexpectedly and severely, we are 
not prepared to meet them ; our fortitude is apt to fail; 
and though we have then, as we have always, access to 
the throne of grace, yet our application there cannot be 
supposed to have the same fervency or the same effect, 
as if we had gone with those pious impressions, rivetted 
on our minds, and familiar to our thoughts, by which 
we are constrained to say in the words and spirit of the 
text, " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because 
thou didst it." 

Let us now attend shortly to some of those consider- 
ations which should encourage us to adopt this language 
in its full and genuine import. 

1. In the first place, when God visits us with painful 
bereavements, we ought to be resigned, because he 
only takes away what is his own. 

He is sole and absolute proprietor of the universe. 
It is impossible, in the very nature of things, that he 
should alienate any, the minutest part of it. And, con- 
sequently, if he has bestowed any blessing upon us, 
there is necessarily attached to the gift this condition, 
that being still his own, he may recal it, at whatever 
time, and in whatever way he pleases. Accordingly, 
there is not a moment that we can say justly of any of 
the comforts of life, " This is ours without admitting 
at the same time that, in perfect rectitude, it may be 
taken from us, whenever it seems good to Him by whom 
it was originally given. He might indeed promise the 
perpetuity of the boon which he confers ; and in that 
case his faithfulness would be a sure and unfailing 
guarantee, that we should not be deprived of it. But 
this does not apply to any of the good things of a pres- 
ent world. Every one of these is, unquestionably, lim- 
ited. It is conveyed to us for a particular purpose ; 
and whenever it has fulfilled that purpose, or when, 
through our perversity, it has ceased to answer its pur- 
pose, or when the removal of it would accomplish a 
wiser or a better purpose, it can be no longer continued 
with us. Not that God will act from any arbitrary or 



372 



CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 



SER. 18. 



capricious motive. His conduct must be always dic- 
tated and governed by the laws of infinite perfection. 
But it is still true that all our temporal mercies are at 
his sovereign disposal ; and that, without any violation 
of the greatness and glory of his character, he may give 
them, and take them away, and restore them, and re- 
sume them again, according to his good pleasure. In 
all this there is no injustice on his part ; for may He 
not do " what he will with his own ?" and there should 
be no disappointment on ours ; for had we reflected, as 
we ought, on the nature of our condition as his depend- 
ent creatures, we must have perceived that all the bless- 
ings we enjoy are revocable and uncertain, and we 
should, therefore, have been prepared to part with them, 
whenever it might be so ordered by the inscrutable 
counsels of his providence. Instead, therefore of feel- 
ing that any injury has been done us, when we are de- 
prived even of those comforts which are dearest to us, 
and on whose continuance and security we reckoned 
with most confidence — instead of thus sinning and 
charging God foolishly — it becomes us to be grateful to 
him that we have possessed them so long, and in such 
measure — to condemn ourselves for having regarded 
them too much as our own absolute property — and, 
henceforward, to receive, and to hold, every blessing 
that may be put into our lot, with the conviction that it 
is still the Lord's, and that he will do nothing but what 
is right, when he sees proper to recal it either in part 
or altogether. 

We cannot help, indeed, forming attachments to 
earthly objects : this is not only natural, but subservient 
to our duty, and conducive to our happiness. And 
there is nothing, either in reason or in religion, which 
forbids us to feel and to cherish such attachments, when 
we do not thereby devote to the creature what should 
be devoted to the Creator, and lay up for ourselves a 
store of future disappointment and pain. But surely it 
is wise to have them qualified and subdued, by the ha- 
bitual persuasion, that they are liable to be dissolved, 



SER. 18. CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 373 

not by what is called accident — not by the malice or 
violence of our fellow-men — not by the power of a 
blind and irresistible fate, but by the will of Him who 
" ruleth over all and who, when he takes from us the 
objects of our affection, only takes from us what belongs 
to himself by divine inalienable right. And if we be 
accustomed to take this view of the subject, if we not 
only speculatively assent to it as an abstract truth, but 
have it as a part of our practical creed, and constantly 
realize its truth, and lay our account with its exempli- 
fication, in our personal experience, it will, without im- 
pairing one generous or useful sentiment, prevent us 
from indulging in fretfulness, or murmuring under our 
privations, and will lead us to- surrender any comfort 
whatever, and to make the surrender with patience and 
readiness into the hands of God, from whom we at first 
received it, who in kindness has lent it to us for the 
passing day, or for the passing year, and who is as 
righteous in taking back, as he was merciful in bestow- 
ing the gift whose loss we deplore. 

2. In the second place, we should not open our 
mouth with complaints when we are visited with painful 
bereavements, but observe the silence of resignation, 
because it is God who inflicts them, and the same God 
accompanies them with consolation and support. 

In our very darkest and deepest afflictions of a tem- 
poral kind, it is seldom, if indeed ever, that we are 
abandoned to unmixed and unalleviated suffering. To 
whatever deprivations we are subjected, there are 
always some comforts left behind, or some new com- 
forts conveyed to us; which, if they do not compensate 
what has been taken from us, tend at least to diminish 
the extent and severity of the loss. This, indeed, may 
not be perceived or felt at the very moment that any 
calamity has overtaken us. But when our grief has so 
far subsided, as to allow us to form a calm and correct 
estimate of our situation, we shall be sensible that there 
remains to us much more of the good things of this life, 
than we at first imagined or were willing to allow. We 
32 



374 



CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. SER. 18. 



may have lost a friend, but some are still left to cheer 
us, or others are raised up for our comfort in adversity. 
Our worldly substance may have failed ; but health is 
still spared, and opportunities are still provided, by 
which we may recover our independence and renew 
our usefulness. One favorite speculation may have 
come to nothing, but another has succeeded. Oar good 
name may have been injured by the tongue of slander, 
but we have the means of vindicating what has been 
thus traduced, and of either living down the calumny, 
or exposing its injustice and malevolence. We look on 
the one hand, and we see the darkness of adversity ap- 
proaching us : but we look on the other, and behold the 
light of joy is springing up to cheer our hearts, and 
chase away our sorrows. And has it not often actually 
happened in the case of the afflicted, that " their latter 
end," like that of Job, has been " much more than their 
beginning ?" In all this there is something that is well 
fitted to inspire us with patience and contentment. 
Whatever we suffer is much less, and whatever we en- 
joy is much more than we deserve. Considering that 
we are sinners, and that the best of us are great sin- 
ners, we may well ask, " shall we receive good at the 
hand of God, and shall we not receive evil also ?" And 
we may well wonder that he has given us so much of 
the one, and laid upon us so little of the other. Nor is 
there a blessing of which we are allowed to partake, 
that does not intimate to us the benignity of Him by 
whom we are afflicted, and give us the assurance that, 
notwithstanding all that he is causing us to suffer, he 
has not abandoned us to destitution and pain, but has 
much kindness in store for us, if we will but listen to 
his warning voice, and "turn our feet unto his testi- 
monies." 

But He gives us consolation and support of a spirit- 
ual kind, far more precious, and far more efficacious 
still. Let our temporal privations be as numerous and 
as severe as they may, still there are sources of com- 
fort which are not only accessible to us, but to which 



SER. 18. CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 



375 



we are invited, and from which we may derive all that 
is needful to sustain our minds. We have the Bible, 
containing doctrines that make us acquainted with that 
system of administration under which we are placed, 
and promises to excite and animate our hopes, and 
counsels to direct our steps in the most rugged paths 
that we have to tread, and examples to bring before us, 
in all its excellence and all its power, the virtue of suf- 
fering patience. We have "the throne of grace," 
where we may go, in the confidence of faith, to un- 
bosom our griefs to our heavenly Father, to commit 
ourselves to his mercy and protection, and to obtain 
" the help" that he has promised to send us in "our 
time of need." We have the Holy Spirit, who is the 
comforter of the people of God in the season of distress, 
and who will communicate to us those secret, but real 
and powerful influences, which must avail to enlighten 
us in our thickest darkness, and to give us that fortitude 
which no dangers can appal, and no calamities subdue. 
And we have all the various ordinances of religion, by 
mingling in which our thoughts are solemnly directed to 
the glad tidings of the gospel ; and our spirits refreshed 
from time to time with the exercises of devotion ; and 
our sorrows soothed by the sympathies of the church ; 
and our souls brought near to him who is the " Father 
of mercies," and the " God of all consolation ; and our 
views carried forward to the rest and peace and sin- 
lessness and joy of that kingdom which He "has pre- 
pared for us from the foundation of the world." 

And having such alleviations and such comforts as 
these, it would ill become us to allow our feelings to 
rebel against their compassionate Author, because he is 
pleased, in his wise and inscrutable providence, to de- 
prive us of blessings which we have no title to retain, 
and to inflict upon us sufferings, which it must be our 
interest to bear. Let us rather praise him that he 
touches us with such a lenient hand ; let us sing of his 
mercy, while we are enduring his judgments ; let our 
meditations be upon the blessings that are left us, while 



376 



CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. SER. 18. 



our hearts are troubled by the departure of what was 
dear to us ; and looking to the consolations which God 
Imparts, as well as to the sorrows which we feel, and 
regarding him as the fountain from which both proceed, 
let our feelings, our language, and our conduct, be those 
of the Psalmist, as expressed in the words of our text, 
" I was dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou 
didst it." 

3. In the third place, we should be resigned to the 
will of God when he afflicts us, because affliction is for 
our good. 

To mere worldly persons there is nothing good but 
that which gives them much pleasure, unaccompanied 
by pain ; which gratifies their senses ; which advances 
their temporal prosperity; which raises them to honor? 
to wealth, to influence ; and which permits them to enjoy 
all these without interruption or annoyance. But to 
true Christians, that, and that alone is good, whatever it 
may be, which promotes their spiritual and immortal in- 
terests ; which tends to make them wiser and better ; 
which strengthens their religious principles, and improves 
their moral character ; which renders them faithful ser- 
vants of God here, and prepares them for the glories of 
his presence hereafter. And in this view, we must be 
satisfied, from many considerations, that the trials and 
distresses in which we are involved, have for their great 
and ultimate object, our essential welfare. What is the 
character of that Being who appoints them, or who per- 
mits them to befal us ? He is a God of infinite mercy 
— who can have no pleasure in our sufferings — who 
therefore does not "afflict us willingly" — and whose 
only design must be to render us more holy and more 
happy. And while his goodness prompts him to form 
and to pursue this purpose respecting us, he prosecutes 
and accomplishes it by means of affliction, because his 
unerring wisdom selects that as the fittest, and most 
powerful, and most efficient, method of securing what 
he benevolently intends. Nor is it difficult to see the 
propriety and suitableness of this part, of his plan, which, 



SJER. 18. CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 



377 



however, must be perfect, whether we can comprehend 
it or not. It is evidently called for by the state of our 
nature, and the circumstances of our condition. Our 
nature is corrupted ; and, under the influence of this 
corruption, we are prone to indulge in sin and to forget 
the obligations of duty — apt to be intoxicated with pros- 
perity, and to consider this world, when all our wishes 
are gratified, and all our dreams of joy are undisturbed, 
not as our temporary residence, but as our everlasting 
rest. And our outward circumstances engage so much 
of our attention, and present so many things to occupy 
our thoughts and fascinate our hearts, that, if unmingled 
with any thing that is harsh and distasteful to our feel- 
ings, we insensibly become the very slaves of worldly 
pursuits and pleasures, and continue to live as if we 
were never to die ; as if we had no account to render, 
no immortality to hope for, and no spiritual work to 
perform. Now this miserable and fatal enchantment is 
broken by affliction. When the comforts which we 
idolized, or on which we doated, are taken from us, 
this demonstrates them to be unsubstantial and uncer- 
tain, and unworthy of all the fond regard we paid them 
We see more than ever the necessity of seeking for 
happiness in the favor of an unchangeable God, in the 
faith of a never-failing Redeemer, in the hope of an 
immortal inheritance. And " setting our affections on 
things above," we are le<J to cultivate, with greater dil- 
igence, that pious and holy character which it is the 
grand object of the gospel to form, and by which we 
are to be prepared for everlasting life. 

And while we draw this conclusion from reasoning 
on the character of God, and from the nature and cir- 
cumstances of fallen man, it is expressly taught and de- 
clared in the sacred scriptures. There, God is repre- 
sented as our Father, who, all-wise and all-affection ate, 
does not correct his children from caprice, nor from 
malignity, nor for purposes of vengeance — but for their 
reformation and advantage, that they may be "partak- 
ers of his holiness." " No chastening for the present 
*32 



378 



CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. SER. 18. 



seemeth joyous but grievous ; nevertheless, afterwards, 
it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them 
that are exercised thereby." And "our light afflic- 
tions, which are but for a moment, shall work out for 
us a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of 
glory." 

The truth of these Scriptures has been realized in 
the experience of thousands. When David said, " It 
is good for me that I have been afflicted," he spoke in 
the name of all the people of God who have been re- 
buked of Him, and have not despised his chastening. 
They have been chosen, perhaps, " in the furnace of 
affliction." They have come out of it, purified from 
the dross of sin. They have had their affections de- 
tached from the world. They have become more 
heavenly-minded. They have been brought back from 
their wanderings after vanity ; restored to a more inti- 
mate communion with God ; and taught to love, and to 
keep, and to delight in his commandments. He has 
taken from them the children whom they had suffered 
to usurp the throne of their hearts ; and they have been 
instructed by this painful and salutary rebuke to give 
back to Him that devotedness of affection which they 
had hitherto lavished on the creatures of a day, and to 
be more anxious that they and theirs should be inher- 
itors of that " kingdom which cannot be moved," than 
that they should continue to £>e united to one another 
by those ties which, however strong and however ten- 
der, bind them only to the earth and keep them far 
from heaven. He has deprived them of their riches : 
and they have learned, in the school of poverty, to lift, 
to the better and more enduring treasures that are on 
high, that soul which had been meanly and ingloriously 
wedded to the paltry treasures of the dust. He has 
blasted their health ; and on the bed of sickness and 
languishing, during wearisome days and nights of rest- 
lessness and pain, they are feeling the emptiness of 
those vain amusements in which they had too long and 
too fondly indulged, and are reading, in this leaf of 



SER. 18. CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 



379 



the book of providence, those lessons of humility and 
sobriety and patience which the theatre of gay life was 
but ill calculated to afford, and are gradually ripening 
either for a closer walk with God in this weary wil- 
derness, or for the full enjoyment of his presence in the 
promised land. He has permitted their reputation to 
be tarnished by the breath of calumny ; and, no longer 
elevated by the applauses of erring and deceitful mortals, 
they are now candidates for the honor and the praise 
that come from God, for the testimony of a good con- 
science, and for the approving sentence of their Judge 
at last. 

It is thus that God appoints, or overrules, the adver- 
sities of life for the benefit of his people, converts their 
afflictions into blessings, and makes them at once the 
tokens of present love, and the pledges of future glory. 
And shall we repine, with this great truth pressed upon 
us, by every view of his character, and by all that his 
word has told us ; and by the uniform experience of 
those who have put their trust in him — shall we repine 
when he disappoints our earthly hopes, and puts the 
cup of sorrow into our hand, and even makes us drink 
it to the very dregs ? Shall not we rather kiss the rod 
with which he smites us ? Shall not we be disposed to 
receive all his corrections with patience and submis- 
sion ? And when the feelings of feeble and afflicted 
nature would prompt us to deprecate the sorrows he is 
laying upon us, shall not we still say, "Nevertheless, O 
Lord, not my will, but thine be done." " I was dumb, 
I opened not my mouth ; because thou didst it." 

4. There is still another consideration by which we 
ought to be influenced when involved in affliction. God 
who sends it, is entitled to our patient acquiescence, 
our cheerful submission, because at the very time that 
we are suffering under his hand, he has in reserve, 
and is preparing for us, the happiness of heaven and 
immortality. 

I need not, my friends, attempt to expatiate on the 
exquisite nature, the absolute certainty, the infinite 



380 



CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. SER. 18. 



value, and the eternal duration of that happiness. We 
have no adequate description of it to give you ; and 
you are not able to form any adequate conception of it. 
Yet you are surely so far acquainted with it as to know 
that it is an attainment with a view to which no labor, 
no suffering, no discipline, can be deemed dispropor- 
tioned. And scripture has expressly said, that " the 
sufferings of a present life are not worthy to be com- 
pared with the glory that shall be revealed." 

Now, with such a prospect before us, would it not 
be foolish, and unbecoming, and inconsistent, to mur- 
mur at any evils we may have to endure in our passage 
to heaven — to grudge the hardships of the wilderness 
through which our covenant God is leading us to the 
land of promise — to be impatient amidst the darkness 
which shall ere long be succeeded by the dawn and by 
the brightness of an eternal day ? Do not the soldier, 
and the mariner, and the man of business, submit to 
many anxieties and pains, borne up and animated by 
the anticipations of successful enterprise, and rewarded 
perseverance? And shall we be less contented, or less 
resigned to the privations of our lot; we, who look for- 
ward with a hope resting on the promise of a faithful 
and unchangeable God, to " the crown of life which 
fadeth not away ?" Every thing in our case contributes 
to inspire us with the temper of the Psalmist in its high- 
est and its noblest exercise. Be our tribulations what 
they may, they must soon come to a perpetual end, and 
be succeeded by a joy that is ineffable, and not only shall 
they be succeeded by a joy that is ineffable, but they are 
an essential part of that course of discipline which our 
heavenly Father employs to prepare us for entering 
into glory. So that to be disquieted, and cast down, 
and made impatient, by our afflictions, is to undervalue 
the happiness of the heavenly state — to prefer our pres- 
ent ease to our future salvation, and to arraign the wis- 
dom of that plan by which God is training us up for the 
exercises and the enjoyments of the celestial world. 



SER. 18. CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 



381 



Only let us think of our ultimate and eternal destiny, as 
" the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus," and of 
the connexion which it has with our sufferings and our 
conduct in this our scene of probation ; and we shall see 
abundant reason to cast ourselves upon the good pleas- 
ure of him who gives to us, and who takes away from 
us, as the God of earth and of heaven, of time and of 
eternity ; and to say, in the words of our text, even 
though we have had sorrow upon sorrow, " 1 was dumb, I 
opened not my mouth ; because thou didst it." 

Those of you who have been visited with severe 
afflictions, would do well to consider how you carried 
yourselves in those trying circumstances. If you were 
fretful and impatient, and complained that you were 
hardly dealt with, this was unworthy of your Christian 
profession, because it was arraigning the goodness, the 
wisdom, the justice of God ; and yon have much rea- 
son, therefore to humble yourselves before him, to 
ask his forgiveness, and to be vigilant against the return 
of such a discontented, unsubmissive spirit, when you 
are again subjected to disappointment and distress. 
And, even though you have not gone the length of ut- 
tering the language of complaint — though you have been 
literally silent, and appeared to bow before the dispen- 
sations which befel you, — yet, if this were owing merely 
to constitutional apathy — or if it were produced by en- 
gaging either in the business or amusements of the 
world — or if it proceeded from causes unconnected 
with the faith of the gospel, — on any of these supposi- 
tions, there was no real resignation to the divine will — 
nothing of the gracious sentiment which is intimated in 
the text — nothing, in short, but a substitution of some- 
thing of your own for that which acknowledges God; 
and, therefore, you have, in this case also, reason to 
confess your unworthiness to him, and to pray for re- 
mission, and to be solicitous that your mind may be so 
renewed, and so regulated, and so influenced, as that, 
in every future time of trouble, your submission may 



382 



CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. SER. 18. 



result from Christian principle and be quickened by 
Christian hope, and that you may feel what the Psalmist 
felt, when you say what he said, — " I was dumb, I 
opened not my mouth ; because thou didst it." 

Let me now address myself more particularly to the 
younger part of my audience. You have not yet, per- 
haps, had many trials to distress you ; but the Bible 
tells you, that " man is born to trouble, as the sparks 
fly upward :" and though every thing wear a gay and 
smiling aspect around you, you know not how soon 
the gloom of sorrow may overcast all your prospects. 
" Remember, then, your Creator in the days of your 
youth, before the years draw nigh in which you shall 
say that you have no pleasure in them." Prepare, 
even now, for the difficulties, and misfortunes, and evils 
of advancing life. And recollect, that your best and 
only preparation consists in your being at peace with 
God — in acquainting yourselves with him — in having a 
deep-seated faith in all the truths and promises of his 
word — in cultivating an experimental recognition of the 
perfect excellence of every part of his character and 
his administration — and in holding habitual communion 
with him both as the Hearer of prayer, and as the God 
of comfort. If you thus live by faith in God and in 
Christ, you are ready for whatever trials and tribula- 
tions await you. And being " reconciled to God by 
the death of his Son," and confiding in his paternal 
management of all that concerns you, and tracing every 
event that befals you to his will and to his doing, and 
satisfied that he orders all things wisely and well, and 
will make them work together for your present and your 
eternal good, — resignation will become the prevailing 
temper of your souls. You will not only be patient 
when adversity comes, but you will be enabled to re- 
joice in it. And thus, while it will secure your peace 
amidst the most formidable ills of life, it will fit you for 
encountering the agonies and the terrors of death, and 
be instrumental in preparing you for entering that happy 



SER. 18. CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 



383 



world where those dwell who have " come through 
much tribulation, and have washed their robes, and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 

And as it is the gospel which not only inculcates this 
grace, but holds out the comforts and the views by 
which it is formed and cherished, let the gospel be 
precious in our regard. Let us cling to it in every 
dark and distressful hour, for our own support. And 
let us be anxious that it may go forth, in all its bless- 
ings, and in all its power, among the sinful and sorrow- 
ing children of mortality. 



SERMON XIX. 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. 

2 CORINTHIANS vi. 2. 

" Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, now is the 
day of salvation." 

In the context, the apostle represents himself, and his 
fellow-laborers in the ministry, as working together for 
promoting and accomplishing the salvation of sinners. 
He entreats those to whom they address themselves not 
to frustrate their object — not to reject the message of 
reconciliation which they were commissioned to publish 
and to urge — not to despise or to refuse that which is 
the appointed provision of divine mercy for redeeming 
guilty souls from misery and ruin. To enforce this ex- 
hortation, the apostle refers to a passage in Isaiah, in 
which God promises to give the Gentiles to the Mes- 
siah, as a reward of his mediatorial undertaking. " I 
have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of 
salvation have I succored thee." And, as this promise 
is made to Christ, the apostle extends its application to 
all who live under the gospel dispensation, reminding 
them, that, even under that dispensation of grace and 



SER. 19. 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. 



385 



mercy, a limited period is fixed for the return of sin- 
ners unto God, and that there is danger in delaying, 
for the shortest time, to yield to that beseeching voice 
which calls on sinners to be reconciled and to live. It 
is in this point of view that we are now to consider the 
language of the text, — " Behold, now is the accepted 
time ; behold, now is the day of salvation." 

It is the wish of most men to obtain salvation ; and 
therefore, it is their resolution that, at some time or 
other, they will repent. They have not yet forsaken 
their sins; they have not yet embraced the Saviour 
whom God has sent ; nor is it just at this instant that 
the work is to be undertaken. They are engaged in 
some important business which requires all their atten- 
tion. They have met with some worldly disaster 
which has disturbed their thoughts. They are in 
pursuit of some pleasure which is not very consist- 
ent with a change to the better. They feel an indo- 
lence of temper which indisposes them for mental ex- 
ertion. Or they cannot spare as much time from their 
ordinary avocations as will be sufficient for the purpose. 
Some object or another engages them at present, and 
furnishes them with a pretext for delay. 

But they are still determined not to let life pass 
away without doing what they are sensible must be 
done if they would be saved. They will not always 
be so much employed with other things as to prevent 
them from attending to the one thing needful. Some 
favorable opportunity will occur, of which they will not 
fail to take immediate advantage. If none should oc- 
cur of itself, they will create one, and force a few pass- 
ing hours into their service. No difficulty, no opposi- 
tion, no temptation, shall then frustrate their design. 
And if, contrary to their expectation, any thing of this 
kind should take place, one alternative still remains, 
which they will most unquestionably adopt. Nothing 
shall hinder them from making their peace with God 
when they are going to die. Die they must; and at 
that interesting period, the best fitted, as they imagine, 
33 



386 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. SER. 19* 



for religious exercises and moral reformation, no cir- 
cumstance surely can intervene to prevent them from 
accomplishing that which they had always wished, and 
always intended to accomplish. Whatever they have 
been in times past, whatever they now are, whatever 
they may continue to be, they will at least leave the 
world in a state of due preparation for another and a 
better. 

Thus lulled into security by their resolutions of future 
amendment, thus perfectly satisfied that they have 
nothing to fear, because they are determined to repent, 
they go on to indulge themselves in all the desires of 
a corrupted heart, and in all the practices of an evil 
world — to disregard the secret remonstrances of con- 
science, to despise the warnings and invitations of the 
word of God, to trample on the blood of Christ, and to 
do despite unto the Spirit of grace. They dream not 
of the ten thousand circumstances which may occur to 
render a change of character unattainable. They rea- 
son with themselves as if repentance were the easiest 
thing which they can attempt, as if all its means were 
obedient to their control, or as if Providence were to 
work miracles to preserve them from the common ac- 
cidents of life, and the common infirmities of nature, 
that their feast of criminal pleasure may suffer no inter- 
ruption, and that they may be saved, though they have 
industriously labored to destroy their souls. Or if some 
thought of danger should intrude, if something should 
happen to excite a suspicion that their latter end may 
find them at once unprepared and incapable of prepar- 
ing for eternity, they banish the unwelcome supposition 
by entering into a calculation of chances, which, as 
may be readily imagined, always bends to their passions, 
and terminates in conformity to the secret bias of their 
wills. They flatter themselves with the persuasion 
which originally deluded them, and which deludes them 
still, that they wish — that they not only wish but intend 
— that they not only intend but resolve, to amend be- 
fore they go off the stage of life, let that event take 



SER. 19. 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. 



387 



place when it will and as it may. And, therefore, 
every allurement prevails as soon as it presents itself, 
and religion is neglected, habitually neglected, as a 
tiling of no immediate concern, or regarded only as the 
employment of a future day. In this manner many go 
on sinning and resolving, and sinning and resolving still, 
till at last they die as they had lived, enemies to God, 
children of wrath and heirs of hell. 

Now, to be convinced of the unreasonableness and 
folly, the guilt and danger of this conduct, consider, 

I. In the first place, the nature of repentance itself, 
and the commandment of God concerning it. 

What is repentance ? It is turning from sin to holi- 
ness ; from sin, which is the shame and reproach of 
our nature, to holiness, which is its honor and its glory ; 
from sin, which is the abominable thing that God hates, 
to holiness, which is infinitely amiable in his sight ; 
from sin, which acts the tyrant over all who are subject 
to its power, to holiness, which constitutes the most 
perfect freedom that a rational creature can enjoy ; 
from sin, which makes us liable to eternal condemna- 
tion, to holiness, which implies our acceptance of the 
appointed Saviour, and fits us for eternal life. 

But if this account of repentance be accurate, with 
what propriety can we put it off to a future occasion ? Can 
it be reasonable to delay consulting the original dignity 
of our nature ? to delay what is well pleasing to him who 
is the greatest and the best of beings? to delay asserting 
that spiritual liberty which is so valuable, and which we 
must forego so long as we continue in sin ? to delay ac- 
cepting of Him through whom alone we can obtain sal- 
vation ? to delay entering into a state of peace with God 
and with our own minds? to delay pursuing an object 
which we must allow to be pre-eminently excellent, 
and at the same time adhere to one which we allow to 
be worthless, vile, and ruinous beyond expression? 
Can such conduct be deemed reasonable ? No : it is 
the most unreasonable, the most inconsistent, the most 
preposterous conduct of which we can be guilty. To 



388 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. 



SER. 19. 



avoid such a glaring contradiction ; to show that our 
resolutions of amendment are sincere ; to prevent our 
conduct from giving the lie to our professions, it be- 
hoves us to repent immediately. If we would realize 
the views of repentance which we affect to entertain ; 
if we would practically allow to religion that high im- 
portance of which we believe it to be possessed ; if we 
would manifest our convictions of the evil of sin and 
the beauties of holiness ; if we would act agreeably to 
the true spirit of any determinations we may have made 
to repent hereafter, these determinations must be in- 
stantly carried into effect. " Behold, now is the ac- 
cepted time." 

But the same conclusion may be drawn from the 
commandment of God concerning repentance. He 
has commanded us to repent. He has distinctly and 
peremptorily commanded us to renounce our sins, and 
to devote ourselves entirely to his will. Now, do we ac- 
knowledge his authority ? Then let his injunction be 
obeyed. But can it be made a question when this 
obedience shall be rendered ? Can we hesitate as to 
the time when we shall do what God requires ? Can 
we think of putting off to some distant period compli- 
ance with his express and righteous appointments ? 
Nothing surely can be more unreasonable and foolish 
and sinful than this. If we admit the authority of God 
over us to be supreme, and if we are satisfied that he 
has positively enjoined repentance as a necessary duty, 
we cannot discharge it too soon. To delay obedience, 
is to dispute his right to command, or to defy his power 
to punish ; and is moreover inconsistent with our own 
supposed intention to repent, for we intend to do this, 
because the divine will has declared it to be necessary 
to salvation. The same reason that we have for sub- 
mitting to the divine commandment at all, we have for 
submitting to it without delay. And he who has just 
impressions of the relation in which he stands to God 
will hasten to keep his commandments. These com- 
mandments are as binding at this moment as they can 



SER. 19. 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. 



389 



be at any future period. They have always the sanc- 
tion of divine authority. And if it be reasonable to 
yield to this authority, it must be most reasonable to do 
so, the very first opportunity that we enjoy. Why 
should we delay ? Can any thing come into competi- 
tion with what we owe to the great Ruler of all ? Can 
any occupation be more urgent than the service of such 
a great and good Being ? Can any consideration justify 
us in putting off the adoption of those means by which 
it is his will that we should be saved ? When he com- 
mands us to repent, he commands us to forsake sin, 
which we never should have committed ; he commands 
us to cultivate holiness, from which we ought never to 
have swerved ; he commands us to surrender ourselves 
entirely to him, to whom we owe the most unreserved 
allegiance, and from obedience to whom we can at no 
period consider ourselves exempted. 

If then we know any thing of the nature of repent- 
ance-r-if we acquiesce in the change which it implies — 
if we have respect to the commandment of God — if we 
have acknowledged the necessity of being devoted to his 
will, — and if we have even determined that, at some time 
or odier, we shall return to him in his appointed way, 
let us not act so foolishly and so inconsistently and so 
arrogantly, as to let any business, any pleasure, any 
pretext whatever, induce us to procrastinate another 
day or another hour. If the thing is to be done, no 
time can be so proper as the present. And this would 
hold true, even though we were assured of a future 
season for repentance, which we could successfully im- 
prove. Even in that case it would be most unreason- 
able to delay the good work. Even in that case it 
might be said to us with justice, and should be said to 
us with effect, " Behold, now is the accepted time ; 
behold, now is the day of salvation !" 

II. Repentance ought not to be delayed, because the 
longer it is delayed, the more painful and difficult will 
the exercise of it become. 
*33 



390 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. SER. 19. 



The power of habit has been universally felt, and 
generally acknowledged. Thoughts which we have 
long indulged, practices to which we have been long 
addicted, acquire such a seat in the heart and charac- 
ter as to become, in some measure, a part of our sys- 
tem. And hence we generally hear habit spoken of 
under the strong and expressive appellation of a second 
nature. What we are accustomed to do, even though 
it has been originally disagreeable to us, grows as nat- 
ural and easy as if we had been originally inclined to 
it; and if it be something to which we are inherently 
disposed, frequent use gives it a double hold on our 
affections, and renders it doubly spontaneous. Of the 
truth of this, every one's personal experience, as well 
as his observation of the conduct of others, must afford 
the most convincing testimony. The fact may not be 
easily accounted for, but still it is a fact invariable and 
undoubted, that habit is, in most cases, as powerful, 
and in some cases, more powerful, than constitutional 
disposition. 

Consider this fact now, as applied to those who are 
delaying repentance to a future occasion. If habit, 
simply considered, is powerful, its power must be in- 
creased in proportion to the length of time during which 
it is allowed to prevail, because its power is acquired at 
first, by the frequent repetition of the act of which it 
consists. The person, therefore, who resolves to re- 
pent hereafter, is not only careless of the obstacles 
which habit lays in the way of his repentance, at what- 
ever time it may be exercised, but waits till these 
obstacles are greatly multiplied and strengthened ; and 
as he defers the work to an opportunity which lies 
at an indefinite distance, he thereby runs the obvious 
risk of having the obstacles to its accomplishment not 
only multiplied and strengthened, but perhaps rendered 
altogether unsurmountable. What folly ! thus to allow 
habit, which is already felt to be abundantly strong, 
time and means to acquire additional force. What 
madness ! thus deliberately to court additional difficul- 



SEE. 19. THE ACCEPTED TIME. 



391 



ties, when those now existing are so great as hardly to 
be overcome, even in the most favorable circumstances. 
A tree which cumbers their ground, and which they 
intend to remove, and which they know will require, 
even at present, the greatest exertions to eradicate, 
they permit to stand season after season, till it strike a 
deeper and yet a deeper root, and threaten to resist 
their most laborious efforts. Why not, on every prin- 
ciple of wisdom, begin the work immediately, and do it 
while it can be done with comparative facility ? 

But the extreme folly of the conduct of those who 
delay repentance appears farther, when we consider 
the nature of those habits which it is necessary for 
them to renounce. These are not habits to which they 
are naturally averse, which have been forced upon 
them by certain infelicities of situation, and which may 
be got the better of by change of place and external 
circumstances. They are not habits which, if origi- 
nally unpleasant to them, they still in some degree dis- 
like, and are anxious to subdue. No : w 7 ere this the 
case, they would not think of delaying, they would in- 
stantly cast them from them. But the very circum- 
stance of their delaying, shows that these habits are 
highly agreeable to them, or that they are deterred 
from the attempt by the difficulties which it threatens. 
In either case, the reason plainly is, that their habits 
are of a vicious kind : for vicious habits are always the 
most inveterate. It is much easier to seduce the sober 
man into intemperance, than to reclaim the intemperate 
man to sobriety. And the cause of this is to be found 
in the depravity of human nature. This is the original 
source of sinful habits. It is this which nourishes them 
into form and vigor. It is this which stimulates to the 
continued indulgence of them. It is this which makes 
them pleasing and delightful. It is this which produces 
a disinclination to throw them off, and resist the efforts 
which may be made for their removal. And those 
wicked habits, thus supported and cherished by the 
natural corruption of the heart, operate with a recipro- 



392 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. SER. 19. 



cal influence, and give to that corruption a greater ac- 
tivity and more certain efficacy. The roots of natural 
depravity and the roots of evil habit are thus, as it 
were, interwoven with each other — they cling to one 
another with close and mutual attachment — and there- 
fore, to eradicate evil habits is like tearing the heart in 
pieces. 

It is true that divine grace can subdue all opposition, 
and overcome the worst and most inveterate habits ; 
and, after all, it is to this grace you must be indebted 
for your repentance and conversion unto God. But it 
is also true that divine grace has not promised to work 
miracles in your behalf — that all those laws which are 
originally impressed upon your moral nature will be 
more or less respected by Him who established them — 
that he will not deal with you as mere passive machines 
in whom there is no will, no affections, no prejudices, 
no habits to be conquered and restrained by ordinary 
means. The very record which tells you of the neces- 
sity and efficacy of grace, tells you at the same time in 
most emphatical language, of the extreme difficulty of 
subduing evii habits. " Can the Ethiopian change his 
skin or the leopard his spots ? Then may ye also do 
good that are accustomed to do evil." 

Be taught then by the united lesson of Scripture and 
experience on the subject of evil habits, not to delay 
the work of repentance. As the case stands, it will re- 
quire all your efforts, and all your diligence, and all 
your watchfulness, to renounce the sinful pleasures and 
pursuits which have acquired an ascendancy over your 
wills. Do not then increase the obstacles which lie in 
the way of this necessary change, by continuing any 
longer in iniquity. But instantly and wholly forsake 
every one of them, and return to the w^ays of God : for 
" Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, now is 
the day of salvation." 

III. In the third and last place, repentance should 
not be delayed, because circumstances may occur 
to render it impracticable, and consequently to secure 
your ruin. 



SER. 19. 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. 



393 



Every sin you commit renders you guilty before 
God ; but when warned of your guilt, and of the dan- 
ger that is connected with it, you go on to aggravate 
the one and to despise the other, you provoke God to 
give you over to a reprobate mind, to inflict upon you 
judicial blindness, to harden your heart as he hardened 
the heart of Pharaoh, and thus to render your impen- 
itence itself a part of your punishment. In no case, 
indeed, can we affirm that this certainly happens : but 
it may happen. God may say to you, though you hear 
it not, " My Spirit shall not always strive with you. I 
withdraw my offers of mercy and salvation which you 
have so long and so obstinately rejected. You have 
joined yourselves to idols, and I let you alone. Sleep 
on now, and take your rest." And is this a calamity 
that you would choose to risk, for the sake of all that 
the universe can give? No, my friends; to be thus 
sealed over to destruction, while yet the day of grace 
is shining to all around you, is too dreadful to be thought 
of without feelings of terror and alarm. Expose your- 
selves, therefore, no longer to the hazard of such an 
awful fate : and let not this consideration be forgotten, 
that the very admonition I am now giving may, if you 
neglect it, be the last link in that chain which is forever 
to bind you down to sin and ruin and despair. 

But supposing that God does not shut up his mercy, 
but still waits to be gracious, may you not in the course 
of providence be placed in a situation where there shall 
be nothing, as there now is, to suggest, to enforce, or 
to secure your return to him. At present you have all 
the means of grace operating upon your minds to per- 
suade and enable you to repent. But you may not be 
always so highly favored. You may go where religion 
is neither practised nor believed ; where your Sabbaths 
shall be all silent — where no sanctuary of God shall 
call you into its hallowed courts — where there shall be 
no ministers of the word of truth to speak to you, either 
its terrors or its mercies— where no friend shall be 
found to counsel you about the things that belong to 



394 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. SER. 19* 



your peace — where you shall breathe the very atmos- 
phere of infidelity and profaneness — and where every 
thing shall conspire to repress every rising conviction, 
and to encourage you in the path of ungodliness and 
vice. And if you repent not amidst all the spiritual ad- 
vantages that you now possess, what is it that is to make 
you repent when all these shall be taken from you, and 
you are forced, as it were, to forget that there is a God 
against whom you have sinned, and an eternity into 
which you must go ? If you find not your way back 
when the light of ordinances is shining upon your path ; 
what hope is there of your return when that light shall 
depart, and leave you to walk in midnight darkness ? 
" Now is the accepted time ; now is the day of sal- 
vation." 

Granting, however, that no such change of circum- 
stances should take place, the power of disease may 
seize upon you and lay you low on the bed of languish- 
ing and pain. That, indeed, you may flatter yourselves, 
will be a fit occasion — the very occasion which you al- 
ways expected to come, and which you always resolved 
to improve — for attending to your spiritual interests. 
Alas ! you know little of the nature of religion or of the 
work of repentance, if you think that the time of bodily 
distress is the time for beginning to attend to such mo- 
mentous concerns. It is the season for enjoying the con- 
solations of the gospel, and oh ! how sweet and cheer- 
ing are these to the heart of the afflicted saint ; but to 
turn the mind, for the first time, to the work of prepar- 
ation for eternity, when the body is overpowered by 
sickness or tossing in agony — that is a delusion into 
which none but the healthful and the thoughtless can 
fall. Go into the chambers of disease, and this fancy 
will delude you no more. It is in health that you must 
give yourselves to the faith and the duties of Chris- 
tianity : if you wait till sickness comes, you may perhaps 
express regret, and feel remorse, and form resolutions ; 
but oh, there is far more to do than this ; and the prob- 



SER. 19. 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. 



395 



ability is that it will never be done. " Sufficient unto 
that day is the evil thereof." " Now is the accepted 
time; now is the day of salvation." 

And is there not soundness of mind, which is still 
more necessary than health of body, for attending to the 
concerns of the soul ; but of which you may be deprived 
when you are least expecting it. If reason be lost, the 
gospel is nothing to us — wo have gone as it were into 
another world, where the message of salvation cannot 
reach us. And if we have allowed the season of im- 
provement to pass away without having stamped upon 
our character those features of grace and of holiness 
which the eye of God would have recognised amidst all 
the ruins of our intellectual frame, what is there that we 
can plead when we go from the wilderness of dreams 
and fancies, into the realities of the eternal scene ? the 
book of life is opened and our names are not there. We 
foolishly waited till the mind could no longer lay hold 
of an offered Saviour. And now reason may never 
again ascend her throne, or wield her sceptre, or shed 
her light upon the shaded soul. Intelligence is ex- 
tinguished and consciousness may not return, till the 
Judge of all demand an account of faculties misapplied 
— of opportunities wasted — of warnings and invitations 
given to the wind — of folly infinitely greater than the 
madness, or the fatuity, in which the taper of our men- 
tal life is left to expire. " Now, then, is the accepted 
time ; now is the day of salvation." 

But though none of these things should take place, 
liable as we are to every one of them, we know that we 
must die, and we know not when our death shall be. 
" The Son of man may come on a day, and at an hour, 
that we think not of." We may be cut off in the midst 
of health, and youth, and gaiety. Oh ! are there not 
many instances on record — has not the fact been brought 
home to our very doors and our very hearts — of men 
and women, the young as well as the old — the strong 
as well as the feeble — the sinner as well as the saint, — 



i 



396 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. 



SER. 19. 



being cut off at an unexpected moment, and sent to the 
bar of judgment, before they had time to cry for the 
mercy they so much needed ? What has happened to 
others may happen to us : and surely with such a peril 
hanging over our heads, it may well be said, " Now is 
the accepted time ; now is the day of salvation." 

Another year has passed away ; and bequeathed to 
us many a lesson and many a warning.* We cannot 
think that we shall all be spared to the termination of 
the year on which we have entered. Before that period 
arrives, some of us assuredly shall have given in an ac- 
count : and which of us, God only knows. It may be 
they who are least expecting, and least prepared for, 
the change : but did I say another year $ O let us not 
flatter ourselves with so long an anticipation. The 
summer's sun may shine upon our tomb. Our eyes may 
even be doomed never again to behold the opening 
beauties of spring. The storm of winter may yet howl 
over our grave. Another year ! " Thou fool, this very 
night, thy soul may be required of thee." " Let us then 
give all diligence to make our calling and election sure." 
Let us delay no longer the work of faith in the Saviour, 
of repentance towards God, of preparation for an eternal 
world. Say not " I must finish this undertaking ; I must 
enjoy this amusement ; I must indulge myself for this 
season : in a little time I will attend to the one thing 
needful." Oh ! my friends, that time may never come : 
and if you reason, and feel, and act, in this way it will 
never come. " Brethren the time is short :" life is un- 
certain : eternity is impending and approaching. Where- 
fore gird up the loins of your minds : be sober and hope 
to the end for the grace that is to be brought at the 
revelation of Jesus Christ : as obedient children, not 
fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in 
your ignorance ; but as He which hath called you is 
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." 



* Preached on the first Sabbath of the year. 



SER. 19. 



THE ACCEPTED TIME. 



397 



When you retire from this place, allow not the good 
impressions, which you have received, to be effaced by 
the temptations and vanities of the world into which you 
again enter : but carry with you the lesson of the text ; 
and pray that it may be engraven by the divine Spirit 
on your hearts — " Now is the accepted time : behold, 
now is the day of salvation." 



34 



SERMON XX.* 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 

PSALM civ. 29, last clause. 

" Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return 
to their dust." 

Death, my friends, is a subject to which our attention 
has been frequently directed. We have read of it in 
the word of God , every page of the history of the 
world brings it under our review ; and many a time has 
it come home to our observation and our feelings, in the 
melancholy experience of our own families and kindred. 
And yet how feeble is the impression which it has made 
upon our minds, and how limited the effect which it has 
produced upon our conduct, as beings who have been 
created at once for time and for eternity ! We feel and 
weep for a little hour : we talk sadly of the departure of 
our friends and our fellow-creatures for a few passing 
days : we wear the customary badges of mourning for 
some weeks ; and then we forget it all, and go on to 
live as if nothing had happened, and as if God were 



* Preached in St. George's Church, Edinburgh, 23d November, 1817. 
being the Sabbath after the funeral of the Princess Charlotte of Wales. 



SER. 20. 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



399 



never to " take away our breath, and we were never to 
die and return to our dust." Alas ! my friends, we 
must acknowledge that this has been too much the case 
with every one of us, in the time that is past. And un- 
less we shall in future think of death much more closely 
and much more seriously than we have hitherto done, 
there is reason to fear that the lesson will be equally 
unimpressive and unimproved in all the time that is to 
come ; and that those, who are now loudest in their 
expressions of grief, will ere long be seen as heedless 
of God and a future state, and as much devoted to the 
pursuits and pleasures and vanities of a present life, as 
if this world were the everlasting rest of man. 

Deprecating such an empty and unworthy result as 
this of the affecting dispensations of Providence, and 
anxious that you should be led by them to become wiser 
and better, I would now submit to your thoughts some 
particular and interesting views of that solemn subject 
to which the text refers. I say particular, as well as 
interesting views ; for a great proportion of the evil to 
which I allude arises from this circumstance, that we 
think of death, when it is presented to our notice, 
vaguely and indefinitely. We regard it too much as a 
general abstract truth. We do not look at it in those 
individual and separate aspects which it assumes. And, 
consequently, our conceptions of it are destitute of vivid- 
ness and force, and we see in it nothing more than the 
proof, and the lesson, of man's mortality — a proof which 
is rather acknowledged than felt, and a lesson which is 
too -extended to be impressive, and is therefore learned 
only to be disregarded or forgotten. Let us, then, de- 
vote ourselves this day to the contemplation of death in 
a variety of its characters and effects, and to the con- 
sideration of those practical lessons which these are 
calculated to teach us. And may that great Being who 
"takes away our breath, when we die and return to our 
dust," enable us to meditate on these things with becom- 
ing seriousness, to apply them impartially to our own 
case, and to derive from them those advantages, whether 



400 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



SER. 20. 



of warning, of improvement, or of comfort, which they 
are fitted to afford. 

I. In the first place, we observe that death disor- 
ganizes and destroys our corporeal frame. This is a 
part of the subject on which it would be painful to 
dwell. The words of the text are distinguished by a 
combination of delicacy and emphasis ; for they tell us 
that when God " takes away our breath, we die and re- 
turn to our dust." They describe not the intermediate 
and humbling process which our bodies undergo, before 
they dissolve into their primary elements. They merely 
announce the execution of the original sentence, " Dust 
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Yes, my 
friends, this is the end of all flesh. You see man 
walking in the majesty of strength, or in all the charms 
of gracefulness and beauty ; you see the cheek blooming 
with health, and the eye beaming with intelligence, and 
altogether you might suppose him a god in this lower 
world, incapable of decay and dissolution. Look again, 
and God has taken away his breath ; — and strength and 
beauty and intelligence are gone, and a cold, pale, life- 
less corpse, is all that remains. Look yet again when 
a few years have elapsed, and behold his very bones 
are consumed, and you cannot distinguish him from the 
earth in which he was laid, and you cannot even tell 
that it was a human being whose remains you are con- 
templating. O this is the fate of all the children of 
mortality. The fairest form that ever kindled admira- 
tion in the eye of man, or made his heart beat and 
melt with love — the most stately and vigorous and god- 
like frame that ever wielded the instruments of battle, 
or attracted the gaze of a multitude, — must cease to be 
beautiful or strong, and lie down in the grave, and say 
to corruption, " Thou art my father, and to the worm, 
thou art my mother and my sister !" What a lesson of 
humility and abasement does this consideration teach 
us ! How foolish, with such a prospect before us, to 
cherish one feeling of vanity or pride ! How incon- 
sistent with our known destiny to live as if we were 



SER. 20. 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



401 



ethereal beings, and our very bodies were to be immor- 
tal ! O young man, why boast thyself in a robust con- 
stitution and an athletic form, why so anxious to pam- 
per its appetites and minister to its gratification, since 
disease may deprive thee of all thy strength, and death 
will certainly bring thee to weakness and to dust. O, 
young woman, why count upon thy personal charms, 
since death will soon " consume thy beauty like a 
moth," and why so careful to adorn thy fair but fading 
tabernacle, which must ere long be shrouded from the 
eye of those who now admire and love thee, and be 
laid in the cold darksome grave, and moulder away un- 
heeded into its kindred earth ? But while death thus 
teaches us to be humble, as to all that is connected 
with our mortal part, it, with no less emphasis, directs 
us to the care of our imperishable souls. Our souls 
surviving the dissolution and corruption of the body, 
and designed for an eternal existence, rightfully demand 
that care which corresponds with their spiritual nature, 
and has a tendency to fit them for their future destiny. 
Death sends the body to the dust from which it was 
taken, but the spirit unto God who gave it ; and that 
spirit must be prepared for appearing before him, by 
being clothed in the righteousness of the Redeemer, 
and adorned with the graces of Christianity. O then 
let us look beyond the comfort, and indulgence, and 
well-being of our frail and fading tenement of flesh and 
blood, and devote our chief attention to the health and 
improvement of the soul which inhabits it, so that when 
death comes we may resign ourselves to the dust, in 
the expectation of a blessed immortality. Nor are we 
left without hope even as to the body. It must, indeed, 
become the prey of worms and corruption. But it is 
" sealed to the day of redemption," which draweth 
nigh. The Son of Man, when he comes the second 
time, shall call it forth to the resurrection of life. He 
shall glorify it by making it " like unto his own glorious 
body," and " this corruptible having put on incorrup- 
*34 



402 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



SER. 20. 



tion, and this mortal having put on immortality, death 
shall be swallowed up in victory." 

II. In the second place, Death puts an end to all 
worldly distinctions. When we look around us in so- 
ciety, we see these distinctions universally prevailing. 
Some abound in riches and others are sunk in poverty. 
Some are destined to fill exalted stations, and others 
dwell in perpetual obscurity. Some are appointed to 
command, and others to obey. Some are adorned 
with titles and with honors, and others are born to 
the simplicity of inferior rank, and are never per- 
mitted to rise above the level on which they drew 
their first breath. 

This variety of external condition is neither to be 
ridiculed nor condemned. It arises from the very con- 
stitution of human nature, and from the circumstances 
in which mankind are placed ; and they who would 
violently attempt to destroy it, are regardless equally of 
the arrangements of divine providence, and of the pros- 
perity and happiness of the social state. 

But though, in itself, it seems to be both necessary 
and expedient, it too often engenders sentiments and 
conduct to which the whole spirit of Christianity stands 
opposed. We observe it, on the one hand, giving birth 
to pride, contempt, and oppression in those who occu- 
py the elevated ranks of life. We observe it, on the 
other hand, producing impatience, discontent, and re- 
bellion among those who move in a lower sphere, and 
sometimes it occasions such animosities and crimes as 
tempt the philanthropist to forget his more enlightened 
principles, and to regret the existence of that adventi- 
tious superiority of one over another in which they all 
seem to originate. 

Now there are many considerations which should 
operate in preventing or in curing these evils. There is 
a reference to the appointment and administration of an 
infinitely wise God. There is the suitableness of the 
existing system of things to the existing state of man. 
There is the evident influence which it has in exciting 



SER. 20. 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



403 



industry, in calling forth virtues that would be otherwise 
dormant, and in promoting the general good. These 
views should all conspire not only to reconcile us to 
those worldly distinctions which prevail in society, but 
to lead us to cultivate the temper, and maintain the 
character, which they severally require. 

But the most powerful and efficient correction of all, 
is the anticipation of death. When God "takes away 
our breath," every difference of outward condition is 
removed, and all the circumstances which separated 
one man, or one class of men, from another, are melt- 
ed down into vanity and nothing. Look into the grave, 
and see how all shadow of distinction is lost for ever. 
The great and the small are there. And O why should 
the high be proud and contemptuous ; and why should 
the low murmur and repine, when they shall all lie 
down alike in the dust and the worms shall cover them ? 

Yes, my friends, all earthly distinctions are destroyed 
at death. Sometimes, indeed, they may appear to re- 
main. One man is honored with a splendid and im- 
posing burial. Another has a blazoned monument 
erected over him. A third may have historians to re- 
cord his name, and poets to sing his praise. And in 
contrast to all these, a»fourth may be laid in the base 
earth, and have not even a stone to tell where he lies, 
and fade from the remembrance, almost as soon as he 
passes from the sight of that world, in which he did little 
more than toil, and weep, and suffer. But let your eye 
penetrate through those showy and unsubstantial forms 
which custom, or affection, or vanity has thrown over 
the graves of departed mortals, and behold how the 
mightiest and the meanest lie side by side in one com- 
mon undistinguished ruin. Striking is the fact, and nu- 
merous are its proofs. Every day that passes over you, 
and every funeral that you attend, and every church 
yard that you visit, give you the affecting demonstration. 
And sometimes God in his judgment, or in his mercy, 
sends a proof of it which knocks loudly at the door of 
every heart, and sets a broad and a lasting seal upon 



404 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



SER. 20. 



the humbling truth. This proof he has lately sent us 
in the most solemn and pathetic form which it could 
possibly assume. There was one who had all that 
earthly greatness can confer; who filled one of the 
most elevated and conspicuous stations to which mor- 
tals are ever born ; who had all of personal dignity, and 
accomplishment, and honor, that this world could 
afford ; and who, as her best and highest distinction, 
sat enthroned in the heart of her country as their ad- 
miration and their hope. Such she was; but it pleased 
God, whose creature and whose child she was, to assert 
his own sovereignty, and to illustrate the emptiness of all 
terrestrial grandeur, by taking away her breath, and she 
died, and is returning to her dust. And what, think 
you, my friends, are the distinctions in which she is 
now rejoicing ? Not in those with which- she was sur- 
rounded and adorned on earth ; these have lost all their 
importance and all their charms, and even that univer- 
sal and affectionate respect in which she was held, ap- 
pears to her now a very little thing. But there are dis- 
tinctions which death cannot touch, and which are now, 
we trust, the glory and the joy of her departed spirit. 
To her, we trust, it is now given to rejoice, that in the 
high places of this wilderness, she was enabled, by divine 
grace, to confide in the mercy of her God and in the 
merits of her Redeemer ; that she paid a practical 
regard to the exercises of devotion ; that she rever- 
enced the Lord's day ; that she performed her relative 
duties with affection and fidelity ; that she set an ex- 
ample of piety and virtue, amidst strong temptation and 
abounding iniquity ; and that with the splendid pros- 
pects of an earthly crown, she did not forget her 
heavenly hopes, but aspired after that crown of right- 
eousness and glory which fadeth not away. 

Receive then, my friends, and practise the lesson 
which all this inculcates. It speaks to you who occupy 
distinguished situations in the world ; and it says, be- 
hold the nothingness of earthly grandeur, and power, 
and riches. Use them as not abusing them, knowing 



SEE.. 20. 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



405 



that their fashion soon passeth away. Though elevated 
in station, be humble in spirit. Let no contemptuous 
feeling be cherished, and no harsh conduct be practised 
towards those who are below you. Employ your influ- 
ence and authority, not in oppressing innocence, but in 
checking guilt, and injustice, and cruelty. And when- 
ever you feel tempted to abuse the advantages of your 
condition, look into the grave, and see the level to 
which you must come at last ; and look beyond the 
grave, that in the immortality into which death intro- 
duces the saints of God, you may see the distinction to 
which it is your highest honor to aspire, and which it 
will be your highest happiness to attain. The same 
fact speaks to you who are moving in the humble walks 
of life ; to you it says, Why repine that you are not in- 
vested with the insignia of worldly greatness, that you 
are not favored with wealth, that you have not been 
born or raised to stations from which you might look 
down on your fellow-men ? why repine that these dis- 
tinctions are not yours, since the time is fast approach- 
ing when you shall return to your dust, and they shall 
be as if they had never been ? Envy not such fleeting 
possessions — scowl not on those to whom they belong 
— "give honor to whom honoris due" — " be contented 
with such things as ye have" — and seek to obtain those 
distinctions of principle and of character which are 
within your reach, which elevate you in the sight of 
God, which perish not in the grave, and which shall 
pass with you into the inheritance that is on high, and 
that lasts forever. 

III. In the third place, death terminates all labor and 
all pleasure under the sun. 

What a scene of activity and toil does this world pre- 
sent to us ! From inclination or necessity all are busily 
engaged. Some are gaining their daily bread by the 
sweat of their brow. Others are seeking for wealth 
in the higher walks of speculation and industry. And 
some are searching for more enlarged information, or 
studying to extend the bound aries of human knowledge, 



406 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



SER. 20. 



by exertions both of mind and body. Every one has 
some object of ambition, and every one is pursuing it 
with ardor and hope. Such is the aspect which society 
presents to us. But death interposes ; and the arm of 
diligence is arrested, and the occupation of life is gone 
forever. Only anticipate the conclusion of a few years, 
and all the frail mortals, who now employ themselves 
in the active scenes of this world, shall have died and 
returned to their dust. God shall take away their 
breath, one by one, till each and all of them shall have 
sunk into the place of silence and of rest. Xow. is our 
labor pleasant ? Let us then apply to it the hand of 
diligence. Let us, if possible, increase in it morn and 
more ; let us engage in it for a useful, honorable, legit- 
imate object ; and let us be stimulated to the persever- 
ing pursuit, by the consideration that we must, sooner 
or later, submit to the paralysing stroke of death ; and 
that it will be our shame and our condemnation, to be 
found standing idle, or acting with but partial earnest- 
ness, wben we had such a prospect before us ? On the 
other hand, are our labors painful ? From age, or from 
infirmity, or Irom anv other cause, is industry a burden 
which we can neither easily bear, nor afford to throw 
away : And are our spirits ready to sink under the 
hard alternative ? Let us be patient, and let us still 
endeavor to perform our duty. Our hardships will not 
always last. Death will come to our relief. The grave 
shall open its peaceful bosom to receive us. And, 
sleeping in the dust, we shall forget alike our sorrows 
and our toP.s. 

But there is c. work far more important than the or- 
dinary labors and business of the world, which death 
must also terminate. I mean the work of salvation and 
of righteousness. While we live, we have means and 
opportunities for carrying on that work. But the mo- 
ment that God ; * takes away our breath," we can advance 
in it no farther ; we can labor in it no more. " There is 
no work, nor wisdom, nor device, in the grave ; ?? and 
" as the tree falleth, so must it lie." What a solemn 



SER. 20. 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



407 



warning does this afford to us, against sloth and inactivity 
in the business of preparation for an eternal world ? How 
loudly does it call upon us, and how effectually should it 
prevail with us to work that momentous work while it is 
day ! Be persuaded, my friends, to apply yourselves 
cordially to the faith and obedience of the gospel. Let 
every duty be faithfully discharged. In all your differ- 
ent relations, and in all your various circumstances, let 
it be your ambition, and your endeavor, to do the will 
of God. Let no good action be unnecessarily delayed, 
or carelessly performed. If there be any act of justice 
due from you to any of your fellow-men ; if there be 
any poor and afflicted ones who need the consolation 
and the aid which you can give ; if you have repara- 
tion to make for wrongs that you have done, or forgive- 
ness to bestow for injuries you have received ; if you 
have it in your power to assist in instructing the igno- 
rant, in reclaiming the wanderer, or in spreading the 
knowledge of the Saviour's name ; if you have any ob- 
ligations to fulfil — any omissions to supply — any oppor- 
tunities of usefulness, or of kindness to improve, as 
parents and as children, as husbands and as wives, as 
masters and as servants, as neighbors and as friends ; 
if there be any evil habit you have to subdue, or any 
good habit you have to acquire or to strengthen — any 
one thing to do in any one department of Christian 
duty, we exhort and entreat you to do it while it is 
called to-day, for the period will soon come, and it 
may come sooner than you think, when God shall 
"take away your breath, and you shall die, and return 
to your dust." 

And to those who are lovers of pleasure, how alarm- 
ing is the language of the text. Whether they be ad- 
dicted to indulgences criminal in themselves, or abuse 
by excess the blessings of providence, or partake of 
lawful gratifications with an eagerness and a relish which 
they feel not in the exercises of religion — in all these 
cases, it is useful to remind them, that not one of the 
objects on which they lavish their affections, can they 



408 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



SER. 20. 



carry with them beyond the grave, but that, when God 
" takes away their breath," their sensual and worldly 
enjoyments come to a perpetual end. Ye who love 
pleasure more than God, can you believe this, and yet 
persevere in your vain and wicked course ? Are your 
favorite pursuits to terminate at death, and will you still 
apply to them as the chief sources of your happiness ? 
Is the grave to arrest the current of your joy, and will 
you limit your ambition there, and seek and prepare for 
no good beyond it? O do not thus brave the terrors of 
the last enemy — do not thus reject the warning lesson 
that he gives you : do not thus cast from you, and tram- 
ple upon, the wisdom which God inculcates, when he 
declares, in his word, and by his providence, that he 
will " take away your breath." Rather let every in- 
stance of mortality awaken you to serious thought — 
teach you to number your days, and to improve them — 
induce you to enter into the ways of holiness and of life 
— and convert you, who are " lovers of pleasures," into 
" lovers of God." And let this be the effect of the dis- 
pensation which we now deplore. She who has left an 
empire to mourn her departure, calls upon you, by her 
death, and by her high example, to renounce a world 
of vanity and of sin, and to give your heart to that good 
Being, who alone can make you truly and forever 
happy. If she call upon you in vain, then, I say, weep 
not for her, but weep for yourselves. In spite of many 
allurements, and many disadvantages, she lived a pattern 
of domestic sobriety, and virtuous abstraction from the 
world. And she died, by the inscrutable will of God, 
that her pattern might be stamped upon your hearts, and 
that you might show your submission to the divine pur- 
pose, and your admiration of departed worth, by imitating 
the excellence which she displayed. 

IV. In the fourth place, death dissolves the dearest 
and tenderest ties. And this is one of its most gloomy 
and forbidding features. Take from me the wealth, 
the luxuries, and the ordinary comforts of life — divest 
me of every honor to which I have been raised, and of 



SER. 20. 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



409 



all the influence which station, and power, and opulence 
have given me — deprive me even of my good name, 
which is better than riches, and all that riches can com- 
mand — do this, but leave me the friends that are dear to 
my soul, and I am comforted ; for their presence and 
affection will compensate for any loss ; and though they 
cannot rejoice with me, as I do not rejoice, they will 
yet weep with me when I weep. But when these " die, 
and return to their dust," I am left poor, and sad, and 
disconsolate indeed. Every tie which is broken by 
their removal, inflicts an anguish on the heart, which 
none but they who have experienced it can adequately 
conceive, and casts a shade over the path of life, which 
its brightest hours can with difficulty chase away. O, it 
is easy for those who have never felt it, to talk pathet- 
ically on this mournful subject. But you alone, my 
friends, who have watched the deathbed of a venerated 
parent, or a beloved child, of the partner of your bosom, 
or the sifter, or the brother, or the friend of your heart 
— you alone can tell, that there is no sorrow like to that 
which you feel, when God " takes away the breath," of 
those whom you fondly love, and with whose existence 
your own seemed inseparably entwined. Under the 
pressure of this sorrow, when we have just listened to the 
parting breath, and said the long farewell, and closed the 
beamless eye — when all that we admired of talent, and 
all that we loved of virtue, is fled, and the object of our 
deepest and tenderest attachment " returns to the dust," 
how apt are we to think that death is but sporting with 
our happiness, and to feel as if we were abandoned to 
darkness and despair. 

Yet death, when it is dissolving those close and ten- 
der ties which link us to one another, is at once teaching 
us wisdom, and directing us to comfort. 

It teaches us wisdom, by showing us the perishable 
nature of human friendships, and leading us to take a 
looser hold, than we might otherwise do, of creatures 
who must soon " die and return to their dust." It 
should not, indeed, prevent us from forming such attach- 
35 



410 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



SEE. 20. 



ments, and from cultivating them with ardor, and from 
giving full scope to all the affections of kindred, and all 
the endearments of domestic life. But it should mod- 
erate the eagerness and the delight with which every 
susceptible mind is apt to enter into these relations, 
and to indulge in these pure and kindly enjoyments. It 
should induce us to associate with those who are dear- 
est to us, under the softening impression that God may 
soon, or suddenly, " take away their breath." And it 
should constrain us to devote the best and highest of 
our regards to Him, by whom our friends are given to 
us, in whom infinite excellence resides, and from whose 
love neither life nor death can ever separate us, if we 
are his by faith in Christ Jesus. 

But death, in this view, not only teaches us wisdom, 
it also directs us to comfort. Death takes away our 
friends and lays them in the dust, and they shall return 
to us no more. But if they have been worthy of the 
love we have felt for them — if they have been walking 
in the ways of God, and are meet for that "new heaven 
and new earth in which dwelleth righteousness," we have 
good hope, through grace, that it is now well with them 
for eternity. They have gone to " their Father and to 
our Father, to their God and to our God." They are 
where our affection, when purified from all the weakness 
and selfishness of humanity, would desire them to be, — - 
in a world where they will sin and sorrow no more— 
where all their virtues in which we delighted shall be 
matured and perfected — where all their views of creation 
which we assisted in forming shall be brightened and 
enlarged — where all their hopes in which we participated 
shall be fully realized — where all their holy joys in 
which we indulged, along with them, shall become ex- 
quisite, unmingled, and permanent ; and from whose 
delightful and everlasting mansions, where we expect 
to join them, they shall go out no more forever. O my 
friends, is it not consolatory to think that death is not an 
eternal sleep — that death shall not have eternal dominion 
over those whose departure we bewail — that their spirits 



SER. 20. 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



411 



wing their way to the paradise above — that their bodies 
have a glorious resurrection awaiting them — and that 
he whom we dread as the spoiler of our friendships and 
our loves, is but the messenger who conveys our pious 
relatives to the realms of bliss and glory unspeakable. 
And while such views are consolatory, is not the com- 
fort rendered sweeter when we are also taught to be 
" followers of them, who through faith and patience, are 
inheriting the promises," and to labor for the spiritual 
welfare of those whom death may snatch from our em- 
braces ? If death afflict us by separating from us our 
dearest and most valued connexions, how anxious should 
we be that they may live here as " the children of the 
resurrection" and the heirs of immortality, and that we 
ourselves may not, by our carelessness, or our impeni- 
tence, or our unbelief, be cast out, while they are ad- 
mitted into the kingdom of their God and Saviour. Let 
this thought rouse us to activity and diligence in the 
work of the Lord, to personal godliness and fidelity, 
and to a benevolent concern for the interests of the 
friends whom we should mourn to . lose by death, and 
rejoice to meet again when " death shall be swallowed 
op in victory." 

V. In the fifth place, death blasts the fairest pros- 
pects of individuals, of families, and of nations. 

We are naturally disposed to speculate on the future^ 
to lay plans of improvement and aggrandisement ; and, 
whether from reasoning on supposed probabilities, or 
from giving the rein to imagination, to anticipate great 
prosperity for ourselves, our friends, or our country. 
And it is not the will of God that we should be always 
disappointed. Sometimes, however, he is pleased to 
frustrate our surest and our fondest expectations ; and 
one of the instruments by which he accomplishes his 
object is death. Death cuts off an individual ; and all 
his schemes and hopes and achievements perish with 
him in the dust. Or he removes the head of a family ; 
and the children are scattererd, and their patrimony is 
lost, and instead of dwelling in opulence or comfort, they 



412 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



SEE. 20. 



are cast upon the mercy of an ungenerous world. Or 
he strikes clown the ruler of a vast empire, whose wis- 
dom and influence and activity formed the safeguard of 
his dominions, and whose decease is a signal for internal 
feuds and foreign war. In our own recent experience^ 
my friends, we have had a melancholy instance of the 
havoc which death sometimes makes in the prospects of 
man. It is not a single disaster that has befallen us, but 
a combination of disasters. And their intrinsic magni- 
tude is deeply aggravated by the consideration that they 
are irremediable. Our beloved Princess, as an indi- 
vidual, had every reason to look forward to a length of 
happy days, she was in the possession of many blessings 
which she prized, and she anticipated many more which 
it only required time and opportunity to provide 5 but 
God " took away her breath," and all these visions of 
bliss have vanished like the morning cloud. In her do- 
mestic capacity she was equally affectionate and beloved, 
and there was all the prospect that could be desired 
of increasing comfort and lasting endearment ; but she 
died in an unexpected moment, and she has left the 
object of her best attachment a solitary and disconsolate 
mourner. And with regard to her connexion with the 
nation and with the crown, what could we have wished 
for more, than the talent with which she was endowed, 
and the spirit that animated her heart, and the virtues 
that adorned her life, and the prospect which she afforded 
of giving birth to a line of princes, who, inheriting her 
excellence and following her example, might have 
reigned mercifully and gloriously over these happy lands ? 
But she has departed, and all our hopes are buried in 
her tomb. Great reason have we, my friends, to con- 
template all this with emotions of the profoundest sor- 
row. But though death be a cruel and relentless spoiler, 
he is a messenger of the infinitely wise and good God ; 
and here he brings with him a lesson which it becomes 
us to learn and to practice. He teaches us to put no 
confidence in our own life, or in that of any of the sons 
or daughters of men. He teaches us to recollect how 



SER. 20. 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



413 



feeble are all our efforts, and how short-sighted are all 
our best laid schemes, and how perishable are all our 
most sanguine hopes. He teaches us to remember that 
man, even in the height of his prosperity, and in the ze- 
nith of his power, is but a mortal whose " breath is in his 
nostrils," and whose " days are but a span." He 
teaches us to look up to God as the " disposer of our 
lot," as the " governor among the nations," as that Being 
on whose determination every event, whether public or 
private, necessarily depends. And he teaches us, in 
characters written, as it were, in the dust by dead men's 
bones, that we have no security for our happiness, but 
trust in his all-wise and righteous administration, and 
that we can have no comfort under the anguish of dis- 
appointed hope, which does not flow from the belief of 
his superintending providence, and from the hope of en- 
tering into that unsufFering kingdom, where none shall 
ever again taste of death, and where no scene of enjoy- 
ment shall be overshadowed by its dark approach. " O 
that we were wise and understood these things," and 
that the Almighty, when he sends death to wither our 
expectations, and lay them prostrate in the dust, would 
enable us by his spirit to " be still and to know that he is 
God." 

VI. In the last place, death introduces us to judgment 
and to eternity. This is the most important view which 
we can take of it. To regard it as dissolving our con- 
nexion with time — as destroying the link between our 
bodies and our spirits — as putting a period to the pur- 
suits and pleasures in which we take so deep an interest 
— as levelling all earthly distinctions — as severing the 
most tender ties — as blasting the fairest prospects, and 
disappointing the most fondly cherished hopes — all these 
are affecting views of death, from which much valuable 
instruction may be derived. But it is only when we 
take into view that which succeeds death, and think of 
its consequences in a future and an eternal state of be- 
ing, that we regard it in its just character, or are in 
circumstances to derive from it its most impressive and 
*35 



414 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



SER. 20. 



salutary lessons. And if our judgment be regulated by 
the discoveries of the gospel, we shall take this extended 
and comprehensive view of death. Our eye will look 
far beyond the tomb where our ashes are to repose. We 
shall recollect that death is not the extinction of the be- 
ing, but a removal from a state of trial to a state of aw- 
ful and unalterable retribution, and that according to 
our present character, it will either introduce us into the 
mansions of endless bliss, or consign us to the regions of 
unutterable despair. 

O then, viewing judgment and eternity in connexion 
with death, let us prepare immediately, and with all 
diligence, and on scriptural principles, for giving in our 
account to God. We are guilty, and cannot stand be- 
fore him and be justified : let us therefore apply in faith, 
and with earnestness, to the blood of Christ whom God 
hath " set forth as a propitiation for sin," and for whose 
sake he hath promised to forgive us all our trespasses. 
We are naturally depraved, and in our natural state are 
unfit for the kingdom of heaven : but let us apply for the 
influences of the Holy Spirit who will enlighten and sanc- 
tify us, and make us " meet to be partakers of the inheri- 
tance of the saints in light." Let no difficulty deter, and 
no allurement seduce us from a work so essential to our 
everlasting welfare. Let every coming day find us 
more deeply engaged in it ; more attentive to the means 
by which it is to be promoted ; more ready to sacrifice 
every interfering interest, that our souls may be saved in 
" the day of the Lord." And when at any time the 
corrupt propensities of our own hearts, or the blandish- 
ments of an evil and an ensnaring world, tempt us to neg- 
ligence or criminal security, let us confirm our resolu- 
tion, and quicken our diligence, by anticipating that 
awful day when God shall " take away our breath," and 
demand from us " an account of our stewardship," and 
assign us our eternal portion. Brethren, the time is 
short and uncertain, we know not when we may die, let 
us, therefore, set ourselves, instantly and cordially, to the 
work of preparation for what is before us: let us be 



scr. 20. 



VIEWS OP DEATH. 



415 



zealous in our endeavors to glorify God, to be useful to 
our neighbor, to maintain a conscience void of offence, 
to cherish that faith which shall be turned into heavenly 
vision, and to cultivate that " charity which thinketh no 
evil, which suffereth long and is kind," and in the bond 
of w 7 hich, purified from all the petty jealousies, and 
resentments, and enmities of this vain and evil worlcl, 
we shall be for ever united in the kingdom of our Father 
and our God. 

Yes, my friends, we are tending to a place where 
strife and hatred are unknown. In this restless world, 
do what we can, we may not be able to ward off the 
attacks of misconception and calumny. We may en- 
deavor " as much as lieth in us to live peaceably with all 
men :" we may do our duty faithfully, laboriously, per- 
severingly : we may study, with scrupulous care, to 
keep our " conscience void of offence, first towards our 
God, and then towards our brethren and yet after all, 
or perhaps on that very account, we shall neither gain 
the favor of one class of mankind, nor avoid the re- 
proaches and misrepresentations of another. Motives 
will be imputed to us which we never felt. Circum- 
stances will be invented or exaggerated to blacken our 
reputation. The voice of reason and of truth will be 
drowned amidst the clamor of violence and angry feel- 
ing. Actions that, at the very worst, are but errors of 
judgment, will be confidently set down, and malevolently 
decried, as if they were transgressions of the moral law : 
And what is least tolerable of all, to the malignity of 
known and acknowledged foes, there will sometimes be 
added the treachery and ingratitude of those who pro- 
fessed attachment, and to whom w T e have never been 
wanting either in duty or in kindness. Be it so. It 
only affords us an additional proof of the depravity of 
human nature, and of the utter worthlessness of human 
favor. But the path of duty and of comfort is plain be- 
fore us. We must continue, my friends, to act agreeably 
to the convictions of our own minds, and to the standard 
of duty, according to the measure of light in which we 



416 



VIEWS OF DEATH. 



SER. 20. 



are enabled to view it. The moment we go into the 
principle of pleasing men rather than God, that moment 
we merit the censures, which, in other circumstances, 
are alleviated by the consciousness of their being un- 
deserved. We must commit our cause to " Him who 
judgeth righteous judgment," and to whom we must give 
account at last. We must confide in Him, that if he 
see it to be good for us, he will, even in this life, remove 
the prejudices, and soften the asperities of those who 
have hated and traduced us. And at all events, we 
can look forward to the grave, which is at least one 
refuge, and not a distant one, from the persecutions and 
strifes of this miserable world, for there at length " the 
wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at 
rest." There is a silence there, which our enemies 
cannot disturb ; and peradventure, when we are re- 
posing in that bed of peace, they by whom we have 
been calumniated, may be touched by remorse, and 
may lament, with unavailing grief, the wrongs which 
they have done and cannot repair. But death shall be 
destroyed at last : and there is a resurrection ; and 
there is a judgment to come. Then the veil of igno- 
rance shall be taken away, and the arts of wilful mis- 
representation shall be exposed, and the sentence of 
truth shall be pronounced, and that mercy will be experi- 
enced from God, which is here denied by man. Heaven 
is the abode of charity ; and there all our contentions 
shall be forgotten : and, united in the bonds of ever- 
lasting love, we shall join together in the grateful, and 
harmonious, and never-ending song of praise, to Him 
whose kindness has never forsaken us, and who has 
provided " a rest for the people of God." 



SERMON XXL 



CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. h 

1 CORINTHIANS xv. 58. 

" Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, un» 
moveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord? 
forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain 
in the Lord" 

The " work of the Lord" means al] that you have to 
believe and do, as disciples of Jesus Christ. It implies 
the principles you are to maintain, the affections you 
are to cherish, the virtues you are to cultivate, accord- 
ing to the lessons and prescriptions of his authority. It 
embraces your practical conformity to the whole of 
that rule, various and comprehensive as it is, which you 
find laid down in the pages of his word. 

To you, who are his real followers, this work must 
not only be known, but familiar. For unless you have 
been acquainted with it, you could not have accepted 
of Him, whom it recognises as your Lord and Saviour ; 
and if you were not intimately conversant with its de- 
tails, this would indicate such an indifference to its im- 
portance and obligations, as to show that you acknowl- 
edged Him in profession only, and not in reality. The 



418 



CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. SER. 21. 



exhortation of the apostle is addressed to true Chris- 
tians. And such of you as profess this character are 
supposed to be aware of what you are required to aim 
at, and to be distinguished by, in order to substantiate 
your claim to it, and to be actually engaged in the pur- 
suit of those spiritual excellencies of which it consists. 

But, besides having learned what this character is, 
and fairly and seriously entered upon its duties, it is 
necessary that you be " stedfast and unmoveable, always 
abounding in it." This is the duty, with respect "to 
the work of the Lord," which is here inculcated upon 
all of you who are desirous to enjoy those advantages 
with which it is now connected, or of which it is to be 
ultimately productive, in the dispensation of the great 
and gracious Master by whom it has been prescribed. 

"Be ye stedfast and unmoveable." Having once 
engaged in the work of the Lord, you must never de- 
sert it, — as if you could, even at the most advanced 
stage of its progress, reckon yourselves either released 
from its activities, or free from its restraints. You 
must continue firm in feeling for it that devoted attach- 
ment which its honorable nature, and its vast importance 
demand from you ; and you must be constant in at- 
tending to all the multiplied occupations in which it re- 
quires you to be practically employed. Nor is it 
enough that you merely persevere in the general under- 
taking — you must be "unmoveable" as well as " sted- 
fast." You must not allow your attention or your ef- 
forts to be withdrawn, for ever so short a period, from 
any one department of it, however inconsiderable it 
may be deemed. There must be such a full purpose 
of heart, and such a resolute, unwearied, incessant en- 
deavor for its promotion and accomplishment, as shall 
prevent you, either from abandoning it altogether, or 
from carrying it on with indifference or remissness. 
You are not, on any account, to cease from the minut- 
est, or from the greatest of its labors, till the whole be 
finished according to the will of God, and you be fully 



SEE. 21. CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. 



419 



meet for passing from the sphere of labor and service 
into "the joy of your Lord." 

Such is the obligation you have to fulfil in regard to 
the work of the Lord, — arising, at once, from its own 
intrinsic nature, from the express terms of the com- 
mandment which enjoins it, and from the great ends 
which it is destined and calculated to subserve. 

The exhortation evidently supposes, that this work 
will be attended with many and formidable difficulties. 
And, indeed, every one who knows any thing of what 
a conscientious performance of it demands, and is, at 
the same time, aware of his personal incompetency to 
the task, — every one who is, in whatever degree, experi- 
mentally acquainted with it, — will immediately perceive 
and acknowledge that the supposition is correct. It 
demands from us a multitude of sacrifices and exertions, 
which we are naturally unwilling to make. It requires 
us to mortify that pride of understanding and of heart, 
which predominates so much in our fallen race. It re- 
quires us to " crucify the flesh, with all its lusts and 
affections," — to deny ourselves to those gratifications to 
which we are most attached, — to renounce, freely and 
forever, the dearest and most inveterate habit, which 
is not sanctioned by the divine will. It requires us to 
engage in pursuits and exercises to which our minds 
are naturally averse, — to study an exact and spiritual 
conformity to the law of God, — to discharge, with mi- 
nute and scrupulous fidelity, all the duties which it en- 
joins, — and to keep our hearts as well as our lives, un- 
contaminated by the pollutions of the world. And 
then, while our inherent weakness and corruption ren- 
der compliance with these requirements no easy task, 
we are beset, on every side, with numerous and pow- 
erful temptations, to backsliding and apostacy from that 
cause which we have been commissioned to prosecute 
and maintain. We have to struggle with spiritual ene- 
mies, who. artfully insinuate into our minds, the thought, 
that it is a hard and unprofitable thing to serve God. 
Ungodly men direct against us the shafts of that profane 



420 



CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. SER. 21. 



ridicule, which has succeeded in driving so many from 
the ways of piety and virtue. And worldly pleasure, in 
a thousand captivating forms, addresses itself to our 
senses and our passions, and, by every method of 
allurement, solicits us to barter a good conscience for 
forbidden joy. Tn short, even when placed in the most 
favorable circumstances for carrying forward our Chris- 
tian vocation, we are exposed to innumerable seduc- 
tions from the devil, the world, and the flesh 5 and we 
must expect to suffer much, if we would faithfully and 
successfully perform what our divine Lord has given 
us to do. 

Now, the exhortation of the apostle has a peculiar 
reference to these circumstances. It is an admonition 
not to yield to their influence. We are not treated as 
if, having trusted that " the Lord is gracious," and re- 
posed our confidence in him, and begun our course of 
obedience, we required no farther advice and expostu- 
lation. Our dangers are pointed out — we are reminded 
of the necessity of being firm and stable in the midst of 
them — we are commanded and urged to act on the 
principle of an unceasing determination not to fall at 
any time from our stedfastness, nor to move from the 
station of duty, whatever and wherever it may be, 
which has been allotted to us. In spite of every dis- 
couragement — in spite of all opposition — in spite of the 
severest hardships, and the most tempting allurements, 
we are to prosecute the duties of our profession. 
Nothing will justify us in becoming negligent or idle ; 
and far less in faithlessly or pusillanimously abandoning 
the engagements which have been authoritatively im- 
posed upon us, and to which we have solemnly com- 
mitted ourselves. There may be difficulties — but we 
must surmount them. There may be enemies — but 
we must overcome them^ : There may be temptations 
— but we must resist them. There may be distresses 
— but we must bear them. There may be persecu- 
tions — but we must encounter, and endure, and with- 
stand them. We must be ready to sutler the loss of all 



SER. 21. CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. 



421 



things — 'J to pluck out a right eye, or cut off a right 
hand" — to part with life itself, rather than renounce a 
cherished confidence in the cross of Jesus, or return 
again to the sins we have forsaken, or fail in the un- 
compromising discharge of any of our moral duties, or 
desert the ordinances by which God is honored and our 
spiritual improvement advanced, or do any thing which 
amounts to a dereliction of that holy service to which 
we have been called by divine grace, and to which we 
have been consecrated by our own voluntary deed. 
From this service, and from all that is essential to it, 
nothing whatever, — be it violence or be it allurement, 
be it the pain to which it may subject us, or the gratifi- 
cation which it forbids us, — nothing must ever be al- 
lowed to detach us, till He to whom it is rendered, shall 
be pleased to release us from our toils and our sorrows. 
It is thus we must be " stedfast and unmoveable." 

But the apostle further exhorts us to be " always 
abounding in the work of the Lord." By this he 
means, that we are not only to persevere, but also to 
improve in it ; that our zeal in carrying it forward is to 
burn with a brighter and a steadier flame ; that our 
diligence is to become more uniform, and our efforts 
more conspicuous ; that our virtues are to multiply with 
our opportunities, and to be invigorated by our experi- 
ence ; that our attainments in religious and moral excel- 
lence are to advance nearer and nearer to that perfection 
after which the gospel teaches, and encourages, and 
stimulates us to aspire. 

It is to be expected, indeed, that if we seriously en- 
gage, and steadily persevere, in the work of the Lord, 
improvement will of course follow. The very exer- 
cise which our good principles receive, will operate in 
giving them additional strength, and stability, and influ- 
ence. Temptation to sin, by being frequently and suc- 
cessfully resisted, will gradually lose its power to seduce 
our affections, and to lead us astray. Duties which 
have been resolutely and habitually performed, will be- 
come comparatively easy, and permit us to take a more 
36 



i 



422 



CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. SER. 21. 



extensive range in the field of usefulness. The grow- 
ing comforts that we derive from the faith, and obe- 
dience, and hope of the gospel, will induce us to live in 
closer intimacy with the Redeemer, in a more diligent 
observance of his precepts, and in a more lively antic- 
ipation of his second coming. That which was once 
the evil heart of unbelief will come to take clearer and 
more impressive views of those great truths which tend 
to purify its desires and to elevate its purposes. Sin 
will daily acquire a more loathsome and revolting as- 
pect. Holiness will assume features of increasing love- 
liness and attraction. And the believing eye, fixed in 
frequent and devout contemplation on heaven, will real- 
ize there such prospects of blessedness and glory, as 
shall elevate the soul insensibly above the vanities of 
this world, assimilate it to the spirits of the just made 
perfect, fill it with the ambition of shining in all the 
beauties of that holiness with which they are adorned, 
and lead it by degrees to " purify itself even as God is 
pure." 

In this light, the Scriptures represent the Christian 
character. They speak of it as advancing from one 
degree of perfection to another. They compare it to 
the natural life, which begins with the weakness of the 
babe, and goes on by successive and imperceptible 
steps, to the stature, and vigor, and maturity of a per- 
fect man. They compare it to a race, in which the 
competitors redouble their efforts, and accelerate their 
speed, as they approach the goal at which the prize is 
to be obtained. And they compare it to the course of 
the sun in the firmament, who increases in splendor as 
lie ascends, and "shines more and more unto the per- 
fect day." 

Nor is there any period at which this course of pro- 
gressive improvement is permitted to stop. The very 
nature of the Christian's work forbids that there should 
be any pause or cessation in its progress. There is 
always occasion for proceeding with what has been 
already begun, securing what has been already ac- 



SER. 21. CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. 423 



quired, and improving what has been already attained ; 
there is always some defect to be supplied — some 
allurement to be repelled — some corruption to be sub- 
dued — some grace to be cherished and invigorated — 
some evil to be removed — some excellence to be added. 
The motives to holy exertion and benevolent enterprise, 
not only continue to operate, but increase in variety 
and strength ; and in proportion to their number and 
their force, they will secure a greater and a growing 
multiplicity of those acts of faith, and piety, and right- 
eousness, and self-denial, and charity, by which every 
true Christian must be distinguished. And no man 
who feels the power of genuine Christianity, and who 
has embraced the truth in the love of it, and who sur- 
renders himself to those spiritual influences which it ex- 
ercises over him, can fail to be sensible that it is a part 
of his vocation to bring forth fruit continually, and to 
bring it forth in greater abundance, and in greater ma- 
turity, as a tree planted in the garden of the Lord, on 
which, from day to day, the cares of the spiritual hus- 
bandman are employed. Even the apostle Paul him- 
self, who had labored so long, so faithfully, so diligently, 
so acceptably, and so successfully in the work of the 
Lord, did at no time count himself to have apprehend- 
ed : he did not think that " he had already attained, or 
that he was already perfect ; but forgetting the things 
that were behind, and reaching forth to those things 
that were before, he pressed toward the mark for the 
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." And 
surely, if a man so high and so rich in the acquirements 
of Christian principle and Christian practice, deemed it 
incumbent to rise yet higher, and grow yet richer, in 
the measure of his heavenly calling, much more must 
it be incumbent upon us who are still but following him 
at an humble distance, to " give all diligence, to add to 
our faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge ; and to 
knowledge, temperance ; and to temperance, patience ; 
and to patience, godliness ; and to godliness, brotherly 
kindness ; and to brotherly kindness, charity ; — that 



424 CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. SER. 21. 

these things being in us, and abounding, we may be 
found neither barren nor unfruitful in the work of the 
Lord." 

Yes, my friends, this is the duty, which you have to 
perform. Regarding the work of the Lord as most 
honorable and glorious in itself- — as contributing to the 
perfection of your moral nature, and in fact essentially 
involving it — as assigned to you by Him from whom 
you received your being with all its capacities and ad- 
vantages — as endeared to your feelings by the grace 
and condescension which call you to it, as well as by 
the dignity and the holiness which characterize it — and 
as the only source of genuine comfort in this world, and 
the only preparation for the happiness of that which is 
to come — regarding it in these lights, you will never 
reckon yourselves to have labored in it with sufficient 
ardor or with adequate success, but you u will go on 
from strength to strength, till you appear before God in 
Zion." It is a part of your Christian work that you 
" live by faith in the Son of God." You will strive, 
then, that your faith may become stronger — more 
lively, and more appropriating, and more purifying ; 
that you may be less biassed by those feelings of self- 
righteousness which are so apt to intrude between you 
and Christ; that you may have brighter views, and 
more impressive convictions of his all-sufficiency ; and 
that you may repose a more cordial, and undivided, 
and delighted trust in him, as all that your souls can 
desire for their eternal salvation. It is a part of your 
Christian work that you exercise " repentance towards 
God you will study then to feel more regret and hu- 
mility under a sense of your unworthiness ; to have 
more affecting impressions of the odiousness and the 
evil of sin ; to hate it " with a more perfect hatred 
to guard against the commission of it with increasing 
jealousy and care ; to be more watchful of the purity 
of your hearts " out of which are the issues of life 
and to be more determined in your purposes of imme- 



SER. 21. CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. ' 425 



diate amendment, and in your endeavors after a better 
obedience. — It is a part of your Christian work that 
you discharge all the various duties incumbent on you 
in your different circumstances and relations. You will 
be anxious, then, that none of them be, at any time, 
disregarded or forgotten ; that you may be more and 
more convinced of their obligation and necessity ; that 
you may have a more decided inclination to perform 
them ; that you may attend to them under the influence 
of purer motives ; that you may be more industrious, 
more ardent, more resolute, more conscientious in ful- 
filling them ; and that you produce in rich and increas- 
ing abundance, all those " fruits of righteousness, which 
are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." 
It is a part of your Christian work that you make a 
diligent use of the appointed means of grace and salva- 
tion. You will then endeavor to apply to these with 
still greater regularity and zeal — with more devotion of 
heart— with more purity of intention — with stronger 
desires and firmer purposes of improvement ; to take 
more pleasure as well as to be more conscientious in 
reading the word of God ; to be more observant of the 
sanctity of his Sabbaths ; to wait upon him with more 
piety of feeling in the services of his house ; to be more 
frequent and more fervent in your applications at " the 
throne of grace to apply these exercises more stead- 
ily and more faithfully to those practical ends for which 
they are recommended and enjoined ; and to engage 
in them in such a manner, as not only to promote your 
own personal advantage and well-being, but to afford a 
more open and unequivocal testimony against the pre- 
vailing irreligion and profaneness of an ungodly world, 
and against the hollow professions and compromising 
practices of nominal Christians. 

Thus have I attempted a short illustration of the 
duty prescribed in my text, with respect to the work 
of the Lord : we must abide by this work — no consid- 
eration must prevail upon us to abandon any part of it 
*36 



426 



CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. SER. 21. 



— and we must make a progressive improvement in all 
its branches — till we can say with our Saviour, " I have 
finished the work which thou gavest me to do." 

But, perhaps, some will say, " We know that this is 
our work, but we feel ourselves unable to accomplish 
it — it is in many respects difficult and laborious, and 
painful — and we are conscious of no resources in our- 
selves that are at all commensurate to the exigencies of 
the case." All this is true ; and it is well that you are 
sensible of it. O that the conviction were more lively 
and more habitual in your minds ! for it would un- 
questionably lead you to apply with greater earnestness 
to Him who will " strengthen you with all might through 
the Spirit," and make you " more than conquerors" 
over the most formidable opposition you can be called 
to encounter. Yes, my brethren, He who has assigned 
you the work will give you power to effect it. His 
language is, "My grace is sufficient for you, my 
strength is made perfect in your weakness." In obey- 
ing his commandments, you ought not to distrust the 
faithfulness of the promises with which he accompanies 
them. And, indeed, if you be Christians, you know 
from experience that he is both able and ready to help 
you, to the utmost of your need. There is no mock- 
ery in saying to you, weak and insufficient as you natu- 
rally are, " Work out your own salvation" — for we have 
to add this compatible and encouraging assurance, that 
" it is *God who worketh in you both to will and to do 
of his own good pleasure." The most liberal help 
to our spiritual infirmities is provided by the gospel. 
The Holy Spirit has been procured for us by the death 
of Christ : He is the Spirit of wisdom and of might ; 
and he is promised to them that ask him. Indeed it is 
a part of your work as Christians, to depend upon his 
influences, and, in token of your dependance, humbly 
to supplicate them. Cherish this dependance, then — 
lift up this supplication to the Hearer of prayer, and 
you shall receive from him according to your need. 



SER. 21. CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. 



427 



Trust in the Lord Jehovah, and you shall be " as 
Mount Zion which cannot be removed, but which 
abideth forever." " Wait thus upon the Lord ; and 
you shall mount up on wings as eagles — you shall run 
and not be weary — you shall walk and not faint." Up- 
held by him who is the strength of Israel, you shall ad- 
vance with vigor and alacrity in the way of his com- 
mandments, you shall be stedfast and immovable, 
always abounding in every good work — till finally you 
shall be able to adopt the language of Paul, and say, 
" I have finished my course — I have kept the faith — 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
ness." 

And now let me direct your attention for a little to 
the motive by which the apostle encourages us to com- 
ply with his exhortation : " Forasmuch as ye know that 
your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord." 

" Our labor shall not be in vain." If we be stedfast 
and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord," he will bestow upon us a reward. He might, 
in the plenitude of his sovereign authority, have de- 
manded our utmost exertions, without conferring any 
recompense. And, indeed, when we reflect on the 
poverty of our services, and on the sinfulness which 
mingles with every one of them, we have reason to 
wonder that he does not reject us as Unprofitable and 
unworthy. But he mercifully beholds us in Christ, his 
beloved Son, who is " the Lord our righteousness and. 
strength." And in consideration of what Christ has 
done and suffered on our account and in our stead, he 
condescends to accept of our faithful labors in the 
cause of truth and godliness, and to crown our perse- 
verance in them with a reward suited to our attainments, 
and to the riches of his own grace. 

The work of the Lord, indeed, may be said to carry 
its own reward along with it* even in a present world. 
There is " joy and peace in believing." There is a 
delight in obeying the law of the Lord after the inward 



423 



CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. SER. 21. 



man. There is a gladness when " the light of God's 
countenance" shines upon us, which the men of the 
world know nothing of, even when "their corn and 
their wine do most abound." And such is the power of 
the " hope that enters in within the vail," and such are 
the " comforts of the Holy Ghost," that those by whom 
they are experienced — and they are in some measure 
experienced by all the faitiiful servants of God — are 
not only happy when their outward fortunes are pros- 
perous, but enabled to rejoice in the midst of tribula- 
tion. 

But the reward here mentioned is evidently future. 
The exhortation with which the promise of it is con- 
nected, follows those cheering and glorious prospects of 
the resurrection which the apostle had been holding out 
in the previous part of the chapter ; and the resurrec- 
tion of the saints is always identified with that celestial 
felicity to which it is a preliminary. It is a resurrection 
to life and immortality — to sinless purity — to spiritual 
enjoyment — to glory, bright and everlasting. It is 
therefore the happiness of heaven which the apostle 
teaches us to anticipate as the termination and the re- 
ward of our constancy in the work of the Lord. 

And that is a happiness that may well animate and 
encourage us to undergo any toils, and to endure any 
hardships, which can ever belong to such a service. 
For it is a happiness accommodated to the noblest ca- 
pacities of our nature ; arising from the progressive and 
rapid improvement of our intellectual faculties, — from 
the indefinite extension of our knowledge of all that is 
excellent and sublime in the universe — from the state 
of purity and vigor to which our moral powers shall be 
raised when delivered from the bondage of corruption, 
and allowed to expatiate in a sinless world — and from 
the unwearied and unceasing exercise of our best affec- 
tions on those objects and pursuits which are full of 
holiness and love, and peace and joy. — It is a happiness 
altogether perfect in its own nature : flowing from com- 



SER. 21. CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. 



429 



amnion with that Being who is the fountain of all good- 
ness and of all grace ; consisting in pleasures that 
Divinity alone can communicate, and that Heaven 
alone can furnish ; unmixed with any of those evils, 
and undisturbed by that consciousness of guilt, which 
mar the sweetest of our comforts upon earth ; and so 
exalted and so exquisite, so rich and so unbounded, as 
to baffle all the efforts of the human mind to conceive 
or to describe it. It is a happiness everlasting in its 
duration — to be enjoyed without interruption and with- 
out end. It is a " kingdom that cannot be moved ;" 
" an inheritance incorruptible, as well as undefiled " 
" a crown of glory that fadeth not away." It is im- 
mortal as the soul of man, and eternal as the throne of 
God. It is a happiness secured to every believer be- 
yond the possibility of disappointment or loss. Pur- 
chased by the blood of Christ, and promised in the 
word of truth, and laid up in store by him who is Lord 
of all, it may be anticipated with unsuspecting and un- 
reserved confidence. " Ye know," says the apostle, 
" that your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord." 
The riches of your Redeemer's love might have 
warranted you to expect it ; but He removes all 
doubt and anxiety that may arise in your minds, by 
condescending, through the words of our text, to 
pledge his faithfulness to bestow the reward. Sooner 
will he deny himself, than frustrate the hopes with 
which he has inspired and encouraged you. It may 
still be necessary for you to continue your labors. 
You may still have to encounter difficulties, and per- 
secutions, and hardships. Still may there be a great 
deal for you to do and a great deal to suffer. But 
fear not. Be not cast down. " Possess your souls 
in patience." " Rejoice in your tribulations." " Your 
witness is in heaven ; your record is on high ; your 
" names are written in the book of life ;" and ere 
long you shall have the blessedness of those who, 
having "lived in the Lord, die also in the Lord, 



430 



CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. SER. 21. 



who rest from their labors, and whose works do fol- 
low them." Persevere then in your Christian course. 
Be not " of them who draw back unto perdition, but 
of them who believe to the saving of the soul." 
" Be stedfast and unmoveable, always abounding in 
the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that 
your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord." Amen. 



SERMON XXII.* 



THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER'S FAREWELL. 

2 TIMOTHY hi. 13. 

" Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, 
and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast 
learned them" 

The writer of these words, knowing that he was about 
to be " offered up," and that " the time of his departure 
was at hand," was not willing that one whom he re- 
garded as his son in the gospel of Jesus Christ, should 
want that peculiar inducement to pastoral fidelity, and 
Christian perseverance, which arises from a parting in- 
junction. He calls upon him, therefore, to remember 
the instructions he had received, and to continue in 
them ; and he gives force to the exhortation, by re- 
minding him of the authority on which they were 
founded. 

In like manner, I would address you, my brethren ; 
and as the pastoral relation, which for some years has 
subsisted between us, is about to be dissolved, I trust 
that you will bear with me, while I say a few words in 
reference to our present circumstances. 



* Preached in the New Greyfriars's Church, on the afternoon of Sabbath, 
12th June, 1814, at the close of his ministry in that charge. 



432 



minister's farewell. 



SER. 22. 



I return my best thanks to you all, elders and peo- 
ple, for the attention and kindness I have uniformly ex- 
perienced since I came among you. Be assured, I 
shall always retain a grateful recollection of it. It will 
ever afford me the sincerest pleasure to hear of your 
welfare. I pray that the Lord may bless you with 
every temporal blessing ; but my most earnest prayer 
is, that you may be all saved — that not one of you may 
be lost — that we may all meet in glory. 

It is from no affectation of humility I confess many 
omissions and shortcomings of duty. I hope, however, 
I have not failed so much, as to prevent you from com- 
plying with my request, for your indulgence and for- 
giveness. And O, unite your supplications with mine, 
for the forgiveness of that great Being who has en- 
trusted me with the ministry of the gospel, to whom I 
must one day render " an account of my stewardship," 
and on whose decision the everlasting destiny of every 
one of us depends. May he grant, of his infinite 
mercy, that my " lack of service" may be supplied by 
richer and more abundant communications of his 
grace, and that, in the luminous and efficacious teach- 
ing of his Holy Spirit, you may be fully compensated 
for the defects of one who feelingly acknowledges, that 
his labors have not been commensurate either with his 
duty or his desire. 

Yet, I bless God, that my endeavors have not been 
altogether without success. I know that I neither flat- 
ter myself nor you, when I say, that some portion of 
good has been done. And you will believe me when I 
tell you, that this affords me a pleasure which I would 
not exchange for a thousand worlds. To be the instru- 
ment of converting, or of edifying, or of preparing, even 
one soul for heaven and eternity, is, in my estimation, 
an honor infinitely purer and more exalted, than all the 
achievements which are limited to earth and time, can 
possibly confer. Let the man of science boast of the 
discoveries by which he has improved the arts of life, 
and promoted the civilization of society. Let the war- 



ser. 22. minister's farewell. 



433 



rior triumph in the multitude and splendor of the con- 
quests which his prowess has obtained. Let the patriot 
and philanthropist exult in having given freedom and 
prosperity to half the globe. I envy not the distinctions 
they have thus acquired, if there be a single individual 
among you, however poor and lowly, to whom, as a 
moral and accountable being, I have been useful. In 
this I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice to my latest moments, 
that I have " not labored among you in vain," — that the 
doctrine which /I have inculcated has produced some 
measure of saving and sanctifying effect — that there are 
some of my beloved hearers to whom it has been already 
blessed, and to whom it shall finally prove " a savor of 
life unto life." And why should not I be glad in this? 
" For what is my hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? 
Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, at his coming ? For ye are my glory and my 

joy-" 

But far be from my heart, and from yours, any proud 
and lofty notions of our own power, as if we, by our- 
selves, could give efficacy to that gospel, of which we 
are only the imperfect channel, or the unworthy objects. 
"Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, but it is God 
that giveth the increase." I ask you, therefore, to join 
with me in ascribing all the praise to Him. " The 
treasure" has been committed to " an earthen vessel," 
but " the excellency and the power" belong to that Be- 
ing, by " whose grace alone ye are what ye are." And 
blessed be His glorious name, forever and ever, that 
the word spoken has profited, in making you " wise 
unto salvation," and in " building you up, and preparing 
you for an inheritance among all them that are sancti- 
fied !" 

Suffer, I beseech you, for a little, the word of ex- 
hortation. And let me address myself, first, to those 
who, in the course of my ministry, have been brought 
to " the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ." 
Beware of returning to the darkness and the danger 
from which you have been rescued. Be not " of them 
37 



434 



minister's farewell. 



SER. 22. 



who draw back unto perdition, but of them who believe 
to the saving of the soul." You would not be guilty of 
the crime of apostacy, — you cannot even think of it 
without trembling and anxiety. By the grace of God, 
you are safely landed on a peaceful and happy shore ; 
and will you plunge again into the perils of the dark 
and stormy deep ? You have been made to exult in 
the sacred " liberty wherewith Christ makes his people 
free ;" and will you again consent to be immured in 
the gloomy dungeons of sin, to be bound in its galling 
fetters, to be doomed to do its degrading work, and, at 
last, to receive its wages which is death? You have 
been permitted to look with the eye of hope into the 
paradise of God, and to anticipate its joys which are 
unspeakable, and its glories which are unfading ; and 
will you now renounce the exalted prospect — will you 
turn away your eyes from beholding scenes so lovely 
and magnificent — will you abandon all your interest in 
that rich inheritance, and again seek for happiness in 
the vain, the fleeting, the sinful pleasures of a world, 
which can give you no peace here, and must abandon 
you to misery hereafter ? O, no, you cannot be so cruel 
to your own souls. You cannot be so cruel to those 
who " watch for your souls," and whose highest satis- 
faction is derived from seeing you move onward in the 
path that leads to heaven. You cannot be so cruel to 
the church which is deeply interested in your conduct 
and destiny, and to whose triumphs you have so honor- 
ably contributed. You cannot be so cruel to your 
pious friends, who have prayed for you, and wept for 
you, and whose prayers have been answered, and whose 
tears have been wiped aw r ay, by your conversion unto 
God. You cannot be so cruel to the angels in heaven, 
" among whom there was joy" over you when you re- 
pented, and who would sorrow at your fall. And you 
cannot be so cruel to that Saviour who died that you 
might live, who has " called you out of darkness into 
his marvellous light" — and who, in the tenderness with 
which he says to you, " will ye also go away ?" demon- 



SER. 22. 



minister's farewell. 



435 



strates how earnest is his desire that you " forsake not 
your first love," but continue " faithful to him unto 
death." By all that is dear to you in time and in eter- 
nity — by all that is precious in the sight of God, and of 
angels, and of saints, let me conjure you to remain sted- 
fast in your attachment to the Saviour, in whom you 
have trusted, and to whom you have committed the 
keeping of your immortal interests. You have embraced 
Jesus Christ as your Redeemer — you have embraced 
him, because you are convinced that he came from God 
— because you felt your absolute need of him — because 
you perceived his suitableness to the circumstances and 
necessities of your condition. But the evidences of his 
divine mission which satisfied you at first, have lost 
nothing of their clearness and their force. The more 
you examine the state of human nature and of your own 
hearts, the more forcibly will you feel that if you are 
without him, you must also be " without God and with- 
out hope." And the more you contemplate the per- 
fections of his character and the nature of his salvation 
the more distinctly and impressively will you see that 
they who have taken him as their Saviour, must have 
every thing which their souls can desire, or which their 
situation demands. Let the same reasons, then, which 
constrained you to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ de- 
termine you to " hold fast the beginning of your confi- 
dence stedfast unto the end." 

Continue to believe in him— to love him — to obey 
him. Adhere to him with uninterrupted fidelity and 
unconquerable zeal. Better never to have heard of 
Christ, than after having heard of him, and seen him in 
all the grace and glory of his character, and accepted 
him as your Saviour and your King — to cast away your 
confidence — to break your engagements — and deliber- 
ately to prefer the yoke of Satan to His. But " be 
faithful to the death, and Christ will give you a crown 
of life." This is the promise by which he supports 
and animates you in the path of righteousness ; and he 
is willing, he is able, he is faithful, to perform all that 



436 



minister's farewell. 



SER. 22. 



he has promised. The reward may be distant — and 
yet it is not so distant, but that faith may realize it, and 
hope in some measure enjoy it, even here. And when 
it is received, how glorious — how exceeding great is it ! 
It is rich as the benevolence, divine as the nature, and 
everlasting as the duration of Him who bestows it. It 
is true, my friends, that you may expect many trials, 
in maintaining your adherence to Christ. These, I am 
persuaded, you have already experienced ; and you 
may find it hard and difficult to bear them. And yet I 
may ask if you have not experienced, amidst them all, 
a heartfelt joy which you never experienced before, 
even "when your corn and your wine did most abound?'' 
A mind at peace with God, and with itself, has in it a 
source of satisfaction and delight which no evil can im- 
pair — which no calamity can destroy. And if, in past 
times, you have known this fact experimentally, trust 
me when I tell you, from divioe authority, that you 
shall continue to know it experimentally, in every suc- 
ceeding stage of your progress through this wilderness. 
For " the peace of God, which passeth all understand- 
ing:, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ 
Jesus." 

But I would place your encouragement to persevere, 
in spite of difficulties and dangers, on yet a higher 
ground. Let the opposition which you may encounter 
from within and from without, be more formidable than 
your experience has ever known, or than your fears 
have ever painted — still I would say, persevere and be 
not afraid. " He who is for you is infinitely greater 
than all that can be against you." He who is for you 
is " the Lord from heaven." You cannot doubt his love, 
for he loved you even to the death of the cross. You can- 
not doubt his power, for it was he who made the worlds, 
and it was he who created your soul again from the dark 
chaos of sin. Trust in him then — apply to him — live 
by faith in him, and he will make you " more than con- 
querors over all your enemies." He will give you vie- 



SER. 22. * minister's farewell. 



437 



tory over the corruptions and deceitfulness of your own 
hearts — over the snares of an evil and fascinating 
world — over the scorn and persecutions of ungodly 
men — over the temptations of the wicked one — over 
the fear of death and over the power of the grave. In 
difficulties and in darkness he will guide you by the 
counsels of his wisdom. In weakness and in danger 
he will protect you with the arm of his everlasting 
strength. In sorrow he will pour the consolations of 
his Spirit into your wounded soul. And during the 
whole course of your pilgrimage, he will watch over 
you with unremitting care, and " keep you by his 
mighty power through faith unto eternal salvation." 

I would now address myself to those Christians to 
whom I have been useful, by the ministry of the gospel, 
in imparting comfort and edification. 

I would remind you, my friends, and I beseech you 
to bear it in your remembrance, that whatever comfort 
and whatever edification you have received through my 
ministry, has all been derived from the sacred Scrip- 
tures : — whatever it may be " that you have learned 
and been assured of," your knowledge and your assur- 
ance have all flowed from this divine source. If I 
have been the means of wiping away one tear of sor- 
row from your eye, of casting one ray of spiritual light 
into your understanding, of invigorating one principle in 
your hearts, or of improving one virtue in your charac- 
ter, these effects have been produced by the power of 
this blessed book. It has been my uniform endeavor 
to preach to you not " the enticing words of man's 
wisdom," which never did, and never can, save a soul, 
but only the genuine unadulterated word of God, as re- 
vealed to us by Christ and his apostles. I have labored 
to inculcate upon your minds suitable impressions of its 
truth, its excellence, its importance, and its authority, 
and so far as I am aware, — if 1 have at any time done 
otherwise, may God forgive me ! — every doctrine I 
have taught, and every precept I have enforced, every 
promise I have unfolded, and every prospect I have set 



438 



minister's farewell. 



SER. 22. 



before you, have been taken from the pages of this 
volume, which the Almighty has given by inspiration, 
which contains all " the words of eternal life," and out 
of which there is no light, no purity, no comfort, no 
happiness, for fallen and sinful men. 

I cannot, therefore, give you an advice of greater 
moment, or one more consistent with the tenor of my 
ministrations, or more suitable to the views of the apos- 
tle, as these are expressed in the succeeding context, 
than this, that you hold fast and close by your Bible. 
Peruse it with frequency, with seriousness, with dili- 
gence, and with self-application. Treasure up its 
precious truths in your memory. Let them be the sub- 
ject of your deep and habitual meditation. Apply to 
them for consolation and guidance. Yield yourselves 
to their purifying influence ; and in whatever circum- 
stances you are placed, whatever trials you are called 
to undergo, whatever duties you are appointed to per- 
form, never for a moment lose sight of your Bible. 
Let it be your study by day, and your song by night. 
Let it be your companion in society and in solitude. 
Though you abandon every thing else, keep your Bi- 
ble ; believe it, love it. read it, and ye shall be happy. 
It is the light of your souls ; it is the source of your 
joy ; it is the ground of your hope ; it is the well out 
of which ye are to draw the waters of life and salva- 
tion. 

But not the half of my object in giving you this ad- 
vice is gained unless I add, that the profound and af- 
fectionate regard to the Bible which I have recom- 
mended, must pervade all the religious exercises in 
which you engage, and all the religious conduct which 
you maintain. To this standard you must bring every 
thing which may be employed to influence your judg- 
ment, your heart, or your life. Nothing is good either 
in opinion or in practice which is contrary to its spirit 
or its letter, and which is not dictated or sanctioned by 
them. Is there any sentiment current in the world, 
which, from its apparent innocence or expediency, you 



SER. 22. 



minister's farewell. 



439 



are tempted to adopt ? Give it no quarter till you have 
brought it to the test of your Bible, and ascertained 
that it accords with what is written there. Is there any 
fashion into which the example of your friends or your 
superiors has a tendency to betray you ? Avoid it, till 
you have found not merely that your Bible does not ex- 
pressly forbid it, but that you can embrace it consistently 
with the maxims which your Bible prescribes, and the 
character which it requires. Does any worldly pleas- 
ure or amusement invite you to indulge in it ? Refrain 
from the indulgence till you have consulted your Bible, 
and found it indubitably consistent with that heavenly- 
mindedness which it is the object of the Bible to cher- 
ish, and with that dignity of deportment to which the 
Bible teaches you to aspire. Do you peruse books for 
the purpose of improving yourselves in the knowledge 
and the ways of religion ? Never forget to bring your 
Bible into contact with them, and though they be 
written by the wisest and the best of human beings, do 
not hesitate to reject what they contain, if they have 
departed from the record of the Bible, and " teach for 
doctrines the commandments of men." Do you come 
into God's house that you may hear his servants, and 
engage in his worship ? Bring your Bibles in your 
hand and in your heart, and lend an obedient ear 
to the preacher, and let your feelings go along with 
the services, only while they are faithful to the truths 
of the Bible. Do you go to the throne of grace ? 
.Be careful not only to pray under the influence, 
and according to the directions of your Bible, but 
let it be your fervent and persevering petition that 
the Bible may become every day more precious in 
your esteem, — that you may discern it more spiritually, 
that you may believe it more firmly, that you may love 
it more ardently, that you may obey it more conscien- 
tiously and more diligently. 

Again, you have received benefit by attending the 
public ordinances of the gospel. And can I urge a 
better or more powerful motive for persuading you to 



440 



minister's farewell. 



ser. 22. 



persevere in that attendance ? What reason have you to 
be grateful to the God of all grace, that you are so lib- 
erally furnished with the public means of instruction 
and improvement, — that the Sabbath regularly returns 
to you, with all its spiritual comforts and advantages, — 
that the sanctuary of the Lord is open to you with its 
pure doctrine and its scriptural worship, — and that a 
communion-table is spread in the wilderness for the 
nourishment and refreshment of your souls ? And what 
reason have you to be grateful that your attention to 
these has been so blessed of heaven, that you can say 
from your own experience, " It has been good for us to 
draw near unto God, to keep his day holy, to go into 
his house, to listen to his word, to join in his service, 
and to partake of the memorials of a Redeemer's 
love ?" Be exhorted to show your gratitude by continu- 
ing to wait upon the Lord in all the ordinances of his 
appointment, — by observing these with all the decency 
and with all the punctuality, and with all the affection 
which their nature and importance demand, and by 
giving them that prominent place in your regard and in 
your practice which, in every point of view, they are 
justly entitled to hold. Never neglect them on any- 
frivolous or unjustifiable pretext, as if the business or the 
pleasures of this world could at any time deserve the 
preference. Let none of them be deemed of little 
consequence, or of inferior obligation. Go not, in the 
least degree, into the false notions of nominal professors 
and ungodly men, that they are not essential to any, or 
that they are not useful to all. You know that such 
notions are idle, dangerous and false : and you know 
also that they are too generally prevalent. But this 
consideration should render you the more zealous, and 
devout, and consistent in your attachment to the ordi- 
nances of religion. To manifest such an attachment is 
a duty which you owe both to yourselves and to others. 
You owe it to your own character, which you are bound 
to improve by every means in your power. You owe 
it to the gospel, to the truth and authority of which it is 



SER. 22. 



minister's farewell. 



441 



incumbent on you to give the most open and unequivo- 
cal testimony. You owe it to your brethren, whom you 
are called on to support by your countenance, and 
guide and animate by your example. And you owe it 
to those who are " set over you in the Lord," whom it 
is your own interest to encourage in their labors, and 
who, if I may judge by what I myself have felt, derive 
no small portion of their encouragement, as well as of 
their comfort, from your regular and pious attendance 
on their ministrations. 

I have one exhortation more to give you, my chris- 
tian friends, and it is this — continue in the ways of 
righteousness, and abound yet more and more in godli- 
ness and good works. 

You will do me the justice to admit, that though I 
have insisted strenuously on the doctrines of grace, as 
the peculiar and leading doctrines of the gospel, I have 
no less strenuously inculcated the necessity of holiness, 
as at once plainly prescribed, and in every way encour- 
aged by the Christian system. And, I have no doubt, 
that you have felt " the grace of God which has appear- 
ed, bringing salvation, teaching you to deny all ungod- 
liness, and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, 
and godly in this present world." Now I beseech you 
to magnify the power of divine grace, by walking, with 
unshaken firmness, and increased alacrity, in the ways 
of God's commandments. Far from becoming " weary 
in well doing," you must be " stedfast and unmoveable, 
always abounding in the work of the Lord." Give 
constant and growing proof that your knowledge is 
practical ; that your faith is a living fountain of obedi- 
ence ; that your religion is not a set of speculative 
opinions, about which you can only talk, and dispute, 
and dogmatise ; but a system of active and holy prin- 
ciples, by the operation of which your heart and con- 
duct are made conformable to the will of God. Show 
that the sanctifying influence of the gospel is minute 
and universal ; that it extends to every situation of life, 
and every branch of duty ; that it regulates alike the 



442 



minister's farewell. 



SER. 22. 



inward temper and the outward behavior. Show it in 
the fervor of your piety, in the integrity of your dealings, 
in the purity of your conversation, in the warmth, the 
extent, the activity, the disinterestedness, the spirituality, 
of your benevolence. Show it in your several relations 
— as husbands and wives — as parents and children — as 
brothers and sisters — as masters and servants — as 
teachers and taught — as neighbors and friends. Show 
it in your various circumstances — in riches and in pov- 
erty — in prosperity and in adversity — in health and in 
sickness — in joy and in sorrow — in obscurity and in em- 
inence — in society and in retirement — in youth and in 
advanced age — in life and at death. See that there be 
nothing wanting which may contribute to the complete- 
ness of your character. " Add to your faith, virtue ; 
and to virtue, knowledge ; and to knowledge, temper- 
ance ; and to temperance patience ; and to patience, 
godliness ; and to godliness, brotherly kindness ; and to 
brotherly kindness, charity ; that these things being in 
you, and abounding, you may be neither barren nor 
unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ." Never 
" diink that you have already attained, or that you are 
already perfect, but forgetting the things that are be- 
hind, and reaching forth to those that are before, press 
toward the mark for the prize of your high calling." — 
" Wait on the Lord that you may run and not be wea- 
ry, that you may walk and not faint." Depend upon 
the grace of God, and pray for it, that you may be 
" strengthened with all might in the inner man," and 
" go on your way rejoicing." Be ever looking for- 
ward to the heavenly joy that is set before you, that 
you may be purified by the hope which it inspires, that 
you may be animated in the path of christian duty, and 
that you may be gradually ripened for the society of 
those, who having " kept the faith and finished their 
course," have entered into that " rest which remaineth 
for the people of God." 

Let me now address myself to those who have been 
awakened to some concern about their spiritual state, 



SER. 22. 



minister's farewell. 



443 



and led to inquire about the way of salvation. To you 
I would say, " continue in the things which you have 
learned." The concern which you feel respects the 
most interesting and important of all subjects, the salva- 
tion of your souls : and with that, surely, you can 
never be too much, or too solicitously, occupied : it 
may engage too little of your attention ; this is your 
danger ; but there is no risk of your going to excess in 
earnestness and anxiety concerning the happiness of 
that never-dying principle which lives within you. The 
inquiry on which you have entered is too momentous 
to be forgotten or neglected ; it regards nothing less 
than the method by which you are to escape the eter- 
nal punishment to which, as sinners, you have been 
condemned, and to regain the eternal felicity, which, as 
sinners, you have forfeited and lost. O what a glorious 
object is this before you ! And is there any thing in 
the way of difficulty, or of exertion, or of suffering, that 
should discourage you from the pursuit of it ? Surely 
it is worthy of your best and most strenuous and perse- 
vering exertions. In its own nature, it consists of all 
that you can desire, and of all that you can conceive of 
good ; nay, it surpasses both. And then you are sure 
of success in the pursuit. No doubt you will meet 
with occasional interruptions : the world and your own 
hearts and the wicked one, and the evil companions 
with whom you have hitherto associated, and the se- 
ducing pleasures of whose vanity and guilt you are 
more than half persuaded, will all combine to infuse 
doubts into your minds, to make you stop short in your 
religious inquiries, to induce you to go back to that 
state of carelessness and sin from which you had partly 
escaped. But against these be continually on your 
guard. They have never yet conducted you in a good 
way, nor afforded you any real comfort. Take up the 
resolution, then, that you will listen to them no more, 
till you have fully satisfied yourselves respecting the 
truth and excellence of the gospel, and till you have 
fairly tried what it is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. 



444 



minister's farewell. 



SER. 22. 



Do this, and be assured that soon, very soon, you will 
obtain the victory over all the opposition which now 
lies in your way. " Follow on to know the Lord," 
and you shall know him. Continue to " search the 
Scriptures," as containing " the words of eternal life," 
and testifying of the Saviour. Cease not to pray for 
direction and assistance from that great Being whose 
favor it is your object as it will be your happiness to 
obtain. Make diligent use of all the means of illumina- 
tion with which Providence has furnished you. And 
be resolved to embrace the truth, wherever you shall 
find it, and whatever sacrifices of private opinion and 
of worldly affection it may require of you. Thus shall 
you, I say it with confidence, attain at length that faith 
which is to " the saving of the soul," which spreads 
over the mind that " peace of God which passeth un- 
derstanding," and is accompanied with that "joy which 
is unspeakable and full of glory." 

I must now, in the last place, address those who 
have' derived no benefit from my ministry; who have 
given a partial, or it may be a regular, attendance on 
the services of the sanctuary, but are as careless — as 
unbelieving — as impenitent as ever. 

I should be extremely willing — I should be delighted 
— to believe that there were no such persons in this 
congregation ; or if there were, to pass them over in 
silent sorrow, and with prayer to God that it might 
please him to change their hearts. But it is impossible 
to disguise the fact that there are such persons ; and 
the fact is too melancholy and affecting to admit of my 
repressing the feelings which it awakens, or of omitting 
this opportunity to make another, and a last attempt to 
reclaim them to " glory and to virtue." 

Your consciences, my friends, must accuse you ; and 
if you be not hardened to a degree that I cannot allow 
myself to suppose, they must also condemn you. It is 
natural for you, however, in that case to frame some 
apologies, by which your conduct may be vindicated, 
or your guilt alleviated. What these may be I cannot 



SER. 22. 



minister's farewell. 



445 



pretend to imagine. But sure I am that whatever they 
may be, they can be nothing but " refuges of lies." 
In this happy land, where saving knowledge abounds, 
it is impossible for you to urge any substantial apology, 
or any satisfactory vindication. With regard to the 
privileges which you have enjoyed here, I shall make 
all the concessions which can be reasonably asked. I 
may have been in fault. I may not have labored with 
sufficient earnestness. I may not have placed the doc- 
trine of salvation before you in its most striking aspects. 
I may not have always " rightly divided the word of 
truth." All this I am willing to acknowledge ; and 
under a conviction of its truth, I am ready to cry out, 
" God be merciful to me, a sinner." 

But think not that any deficiencies of mine will ex- 
cuse your indifference to the concerns of your immor- 
tal souls, or justify you for living in rebellion against 
the God of heaven, and in contempt of the Saviour of 
sinners. You must account for the advantages which 
you have enjoyed, be they great or small. If much 
has been given you, much will be required of you. If 
little has been given, the less will be required. Still, 
however, there is something to be required ; and with- 
out presuming to have exceeded, or even reached the 
ordinary average of ministerial talent and fidelity, your 
responsibility is great and awful, and well calculated to 
rouse you to serious thought and alarming anticipation. 
I have at least delivered to you the great message of 
the gospel. I have told you of your guilt. I have 
warned you of your danger. I have besought you to 
" flee from the wrath to come," to be " reconciled unto 
God," to accept of eternal life. I have represented to 
you the cross of Christ, as " the power of God and the 
wisdom of God for salvation, to every one that believ- 
eth." I have used many arguments to convince you, 
and many motives to persuade you. I have endeavored 
to alarm you by the terrors of the law, and to allure 
you by the mercies of the gospel. I have addressed 
myself to your hopes and your fears, to your love, your 
38 



446 



minister's farewell, 



3ER. 22. 



gratitude, your honor, and your interest. And by the 
means with which this sacred volume has furnished me, 
I have tried to awaken you from the delusions of sin — 
to separate you from the enchantments of an evil 
world — to deliver you from the bondage of inward cor- 
ruption, and, through the ministry of the simple truth as 
it is in Jesus, to conduct you in that way which leads 
to heaven and to glory. I have done this ; but it has 
produced no effect; and in that consists your guilt, and 
from that results your danger. You and your minister 
must appear before the tribunal of God and answer for 
our conduct. Whether I be on the right hand, or on 
the left, I must be a witness against you, and if you 
persevere in misirnprovement and indifference, my tes- 
timony must be this : " I delivered to these, my hear- 
ers, the message of God, but they turned a deaf ear to 
it ; I offered them the salvation of the gospel, but they 
refused it ; I showed them the love of a bleeding 
Saviour, but they were unmoved by it ; I endeavored 
to alarm them by the punishment of hell, but they 
braved it ; I tried to kindle in them the fire of holy 
ambition, by unfolding to them the joys of heaven, but 
they despised it ; I cast upon them the light of God's 
word, but they shut their eyes against it ; I exhorted, 
J remonstrated, I pleaded, and I prayed with them, 
but they would not come unto Christ that they might 
have life ; they chose to live in sin, to die in impen- 
itence, and to come into eternity unsanctified and un- 
forgiven." Alas ! and must this be my testimony ? 
And what will you be able to say to it ? If you should 
attempt to deny it, "your own hearts would condemn 
you ; and God, who is greater than your hearts, and 
knoweth all things, would also condemn you." And 
what will He say to you ? <; As for these mine ene- 
mies, who would not that I should rule over them, 
take them and cast them into outer darkness, where 
shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth." 
This is the sentence of an Almighty and avenging 
God. Are you able to escape it ? Are you pre- 



ser. 22. minister's farewell. 447 



pared to bear it ? Are you resolved to set it at defi- 
ance ? O no. " Who can dwell with devouring flames, 
who can lie down in everlasting burnings ?" You can- 
not thus go deliberately into eternal ruin. Suffer me 
to hope that my last, my fondest, my most earnest en- 
treaty will not be disregarded. Listen to the voice of 
God to-day, and no longer harden your hearts. This 
moment let the resolution be formed that you will have 
nothing more to do with sin ; this moment vow to the 
Lord that you will henceforth be his ; this moment let 
your perishing souls be cast into the arms of Christ, 
and surrendered to his saving power. This moment 
let your aspirations ascend to the throne of heaven for 
pardoning mercy, and for sanctifying grace, and for 
life everlasting. There is mercy, and grace, and life, 
for the chief of sinners, and for you. " Believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ and ye shall be saved." " Repent 
and be converted, and your sins shall be blotted out." 
Embrace the overtures of the gospel, cherish its spirit, 
submit to its authority, and " all things shall be yours, 
for ye shall be Christ's and Christ is God's. With this 
exhortation, and in the comfortable hope that you will 
comply with it, I now bid you farewell, "commending 
you all to God and to the word of his grace. May 
the Lord bless and keep you. May the Lord cause 
his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. 
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and 
give you peace." — Amen. 



